Keith Martin

[Criminal Code, February 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am addressing a part of it. I will take the member's words under advisement and get to other aspects of the bill. However, I feel compelled, because we are discussing dangerous offenders, to offer some solutions upon which we can prevent these problems from occurring.

If the government were to listen to solutions from members across the House and indeed from their constituents, it would find some solutions that would allow us to, hopefully, have fewer and fewer people under the designation of dangerous offenders. The head start program works very well and is very useful at reducing the incidence of youth crime in general, including the aspect of dangerous offenders.

On the bill, one of the key obligations of the government is to ensure that repeat dangerous offenders are put in jail so they cannot harm others. When dealing with the judicial system, and this is a problem we have had in British Columbia and I dare say in all provinces, there has to be a better integration between the justice system, social services and the health care system. In dealing with individuals who have committed these crimes, it is a complex situation. No two are the same. We need to have an integrated system in order to differentiate among those individuals who primarily have a psychiatric problem, those who are mentally competent and have committed heinous crimes and those who have committed heinous crimes on an ongoing basis. We have to weigh all of those.

One of the problems with this bill is that the implementation of it will put pressure on the penitentiary system, particularly the provincial and federal systems. I would encourage the government, if it is going to go through with this, which it will, to work with the provinces and the people in the federal penitentiary system to ensure that the resources are available to do the job.

The federal government has announced recently that it will cut 300 correctional officers. That does not square with this bill. I encourage the government to please look at the downward pressure the bill, when implemented, will have our federal and provincial penal systems and ensure that they have the individuals to do the job.

For our federal correctional officers, the government promised a number of changes that were welcome, and many of us fought a long time for them, but they have not come to pass. I strongly encourage the federal government to implement the solutions that it announced early last year. Implement them for our correctional officers and do it now.

[Criminal Code, February 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure today to speak to Bill C-27, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (dangerous offenders and recognizance to keep the peace). The bill would amend the dangerous offender and long term provisions of the Criminal Code on a number of counts.

I suggest we look at the current situation in our country. When we discuss justice issues, the discussion tends to be fraught with opinion as opposed to fact. It is wise for us to take a look at the facts of the situation right now.

Over the last 10 to 15 years, violence has declined in most of the country with the exception of a recent blip in a couple of large centres, particularly Toronto. Most criminal behaviour has declined with a couple of exceptions, which I will get to in a little while. That is important to note. There are many theories as to why that is the case.

Ultimately one of the most important responsibilities of Parliament is to protect innocent civilians. It is our duty to ensure that we have provisions in the Criminal Code to prevent individuals from committing acts against innocent civilians. If these individuals persist, then we must ensure that they are put in jail. We also have a responsibility to prevent individuals from moving in that direction. We also have a responsibility to look at the antecedents to crime. All of these things are our responsibility.

I want to roll back the clock and look at the earliest aspects of criminal behaviour. I also want to look at what is taking place in our jails. I used to be a correctional officer many years ago. We know that 40% to 50% of people incarcerated suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome. Fetal alcohol syndrome is a leading cause of brain damage at birth. What a tragedy it is that we as a Parliament have been unable to work with our provincial counterparts and other individuals to implement solutions that would prevent this from occurring.

When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol or takes certain drugs, particularly during the first three to six months, it does irreversible brain damage to the fetus. When these individuals grow up, they have IQs running around 60 to 70. We know there is a much greater proclivity for these individuals to fall into criminal behaviour. The tragedy of it all is that it is entirely preventable.

I encourage the government to look at best practises not only in our country, but in other parts of the world, and work with its provincial counterparts to implement solutions that would reduce this situation, which is a quiet tragedy within communities across our country.

If I were to say there is a program that reduces youth crime by 60%, saves the taxpayer $7 for every $1 invested, has a 25-plus years track record and has been retrospectively analyzed, would members not say it was a good thing? Of course they would. Such a program exists and it is the head start program for children. This program has been used in places like New Brunswick, Ypsilanti, Michigan, Hawaii and other centres, and has been proven to have a profound impact on youth crime, a 60% reduction. Why do we not work with our provincial counterparts to implement such a program?

My province of British Columbia has had a tragic decrease in support for children. This is in part due to the federal government's cuts to the provinces for the early learning and child care program. I encourage the government to look at the early learning aspect. A lot of this could be implemented quite simply and not expensively. The key to this is bringing parents into the schools. The program does not work if just the children or just the parents participate. If both are brought together, it works. Here are a few areas upon which the government could do this and how it could accomplish this goal.

If we encourage teachers to bring parents into the school for two hours every second week where they would talk about proper nutrition. A can of Coke and a bag of potato chips for breakfast is not an appropriate breakfast. Second, is talk about literacy. Third, is physical education. Fourth, is appropriate discipline and child care. If we bring that into the system we will be able to—

[Middle East, February 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the government that it was the same member for Mississauga—Streetsville who promised all parliamentarians that he would release his report last October. So let us be clear that this $13,000 was spent for just a few conversations and little else.

I would like again to ask the Prime Minister this question. Will he release this report or is he willing to admit that he wasted Canadian taxpayers' money on this con job?

[Middle East, February 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, according to access to information reports, there is no evidence that the $13,000 that was spent by the Prime Minister's special adviser on the Middle East resulted in any report whatsoever.

In fact, government officials say, “after a thorough search through our files” there are no records of any actual report that were found. The only traces were a couple of phone conversations between officials and the adviser.

My question is for the Prime Minister. Did his special adviser produce a report, yes or no, and if he did, will he release it to Parliament?

[National Defence, February 2nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are choosing to mothball our navy's refuelling and supply ships two years before the new ships are supposed to come online, apparently to save money. This will leave our navy without a refuelling capability for two solid years, severely restricting their capabilities. That is the government that inherited the best fiscal situation of any government in history and it has chosen to shaft our navy.

Will the Minister of National Defence reverse this foolish decision and enable our current supply ships to remain functional until the new ones come online?

[Business of Supply, February 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the member for Don Valley West for articulating a series of very constructive and specific solutions to deal with a problem that is gripping the nation and the world.

I want to focus on three areas where perhaps he can enlighten us. First, does he not see that the government is employing a tactic of essentially taking our old ideas, dressing them up, watering them down, and reintroducing them as its own? For example, there is the EnerGuide program that he was involved in.

Second, does he not see that tax shifting is something that could be utilized by the government now with existing legislation in order to use economic and financial carrots and sticks to move both industry and non-industrial polluters into utilizing alternative sources of energy and reducing their production of fossil fuels?

Third, does he not see that the impact of reducing our fossil fuels is intimately entwined with our security sector? By reducing our dependence on fossil fuels from the Middle East, we will be able to have a lessened dependence on this very volatile area and, therefore, disengage ourselves from an area that is fraught with all manner of security problems that is impacting upon Canadians today?

[Business of Supply, February 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, what has been most dispiriting in the House, and I think to all Canadians, is this. We are dealing with what polls show is the most important issue affecting Canadians, yet we are seeing a steady flow of diatribe and a lack of solutions coming from the Minister of the Environment.

With this most important issue, there are solutions the government can adopt based on existing technologies, and I will give two of them.

First, the most effective way of reducing the burning of fossil fuels and the production of greenhouse gases is how we build our homes and buildings. We can use existing technologies in fact to reduce, by up to 70%, the utilization of fossil fuels and how we heat buildings.

The second thing we can do, as an example, is have vehicular emission standards. We could remove vehicles that were built pre-1986, which produce 47 times the emissions of those built after 1996.

Does my hon. colleague not think that the government has an obligation and a responsibility in the House to articulate very specific solutions to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and the production of greenhouse gas emissions and that those are two solutions that would work?

[Maurice Huard, February 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, coming back to Parliament this week, we were confronted by the tragic news that the House had lost one of its family. Maurice “Moe” Huard was the Assistant Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms since 1993. He passed away at the beginning of January after a very brief illness.

All of us knew Moe because he sat at the end of this great House in that fine chair. He served with professionalism. Moe was a professional to the core, reflective of the 21 years he served with honour in our Canadian Forces as a medic.

Although he was a professional, Moe had a contagious joie de vivre about him and dispensed great humour to all who engaged him. Moe was a part of the professional cadre of men and women who serve our House and all of us so nobly in providing security.

On behalf of the Liberal Party and all members of the House, may I extend to his wife Maria and his colleagues our deepest condolences. Parliament lost a great friend in Moe Huard and in this we are all at a loss. We will miss him deeply.

[Canada Elections Act, January 31st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, it was an issue that I never had an opportunity to address because my time unfortunately ran out. I wish I had 20 minutes to speak on this very important topic. I know members would love to give me that time.

I want to propose something that has to do with census. A lot of our constituents are very concerned with the census and the identification issues to which the member referred.

One of the things I hope the government does is to really look at the census that just took place on two counts. One is the non-core questions that the census asked. A number of my constituents, in their words, are being harassed by Census Canada in obliging them to take part in ancillary aspects of the census which really have little to do with the kind of core information that the census has always been about.

The second issue is the identification mechanisms that are being used and which companies are being allowed to access this information. It was an ancillary company attached to an American company, and I believe that a lot of our constituents have been quite concerned about that.

[Canada Elections Act, January 31st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, obviously the member's head was plunged down on his desk and he was not listening to what I was saying.

For the sake of clarity I would be very happy to provide the member with a constructive solution that he may wish to take back to his caucus on the issue of electoral reform.

All of us have been speaking about how we can involve more Canadians and increase voter participation. We are all concerned about that, as I am sure the member is, so let me suggest one thing that was at the beginning of my speech.

I would strongly urge the member to suggest that his caucus investigate the use of electronic voting for people who live in faraway remote areas and also, as members of my caucus and members of the NDP were mentioning, people who have been disenfranchised, people who feel that they do not have a voice. In particular, as I said in my speech, I think of the youth. The youth, as the member may or may not be aware, are not getting their information from the traditional media. They are getting their information by other means. I would strongly advise the member--