House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2011, with 24% of the vote.
Justice November 28th, 2002
Of course, Mr. Speaker, the program has been a bit more costly. Some provinces have opted out. We brought some changes as well to the program following consultations. The technology has been more expensive, but members should look at the results. It is valuable to our society and it is protecting our society. It is a wonderful tool used by police forces in their investigations. For example, police access the online registry 1,500 times per day.
Justice November 28th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times, we on this side of the House have no concern with regard to the question of the policy. The gun registry policy is a good and valid one, and on this side of the House we will continue proceeding with it.
Implementing the program has always been a challenge, and it is still a challenge. However when we look at the impact that it has had in our society, it represents values highly supported by the Canadian population. It is a wonderful investigative tool for police forces. It has been more costly but, overall, it is worth proceeding with such a fantastic value as protecting our society.
Protection of Children November 27th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, as we know, the protection of children in Canada is a priority, if not the top priority for this government. In the past, we took action. For example, changes were made to the Criminal Code to create the new offence relating to the use of the Internet to lure children.
We also launched, in cooperation with the Manitoba government, a new Internet site called Cybertip, which is working very well. Following the Sharpe ruling, we said we would review the defence based on artistic merit, and this will be done soon.
I am taking this opportunity to thank the members of the Liberal caucus for their interest and excellent work in this area.
Canada Elections Act November 26th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, we do not control it. People apply, develop the criteria and make their own decisions. We do not get involved in the process.
Canada Elections Act November 26th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, essentially the organization that decided to finance the lawsuit was an independent, arm's length organization in order to avoid any political interference.
Justice November 21st, 2002
Mr. Speaker, within Justice Canada we have various programs in order to improve the situation in our society in terms of security and protection. For example, there is the national crime prevention program. It is a good partnership with the private sector and non-profit organizations as well as the provinces. We are getting involved as well in some other areas. We refer to the question of the gun registry. It works. Of course it has been costly, as he said. We started the whole program from zero and we have built up a very good system. Now it is up and running. If we look, for example, at the revocation rate, it is higher compared to the previous system. We stand by--
Justice November 21st, 2002
Mr. Speaker, here we are once again back to the question of the very principle of the protection of our society.
We all know that on this side of the House we stand by that principle. We did proceed in the past and we will continue to proceed with the question of the gun registration system which is in place. Of course some may say that it is costly, but we are talking about protection of our society.
We have to talk about costs to a certain extent, but we have to talk as well about efficiency. When we look at the statistics on the impact that has had on our society, it has been very positive. We stand by those principles.
Criminal Code November 20th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House when it comes to talking about the protection of our children, we talk about action. We took some action in the past in order to amend the Criminal Code. As the House will soon see, before Christmas we will table new legislation with regard to the question of child pornography and protecting the most vulnerable people in our society. This is good action. This will make a difference in our society.
Criminal Code November 20th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I do not understand why the member keeps going back to what was said. That was a statement made by the parliamentary secretary.
I believe it is a very serious matter, the question of protecting our children in this country. We have been discussing the question of raising the age of consent. There is no consensus. What we would like to achieve is to offer much better protection for our children. Maybe we can achieve that through other means, or other offences within the Criminal Code.
Age of Consent November 19th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe what he said. What is important in our society is to ensure that we will offer good protection to our children within our society instead of trying to score cheap political points for something which has not been said in the House.
Regarding the question of the age of consent, as I said, there is no consensus, but the aim and goal of the government is to offer children good protection. We will do that by tabling legislation before Christmas.