Peter Goldring

[Mental Health, March 8th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, last Friday, RCMP Corporal Jim Galloway was laid to rest in Sherwood Park, Alberta. He was killed by Martin Ostopovich, a paranoid schizophrenic, who could not afford the $300 per month for medication to control his delusions, which involved a hatred of authority figures. He killed Corporal Galloway with a gun that he was legally permitted to own. A judge said his illness was under control.

Martin should not have had to pay for the drugs to control his illness and should have been regularly monitored. He should not have been permitted to own firearms and could have been institutionalized for his own health and safety, and that of others.

Harsh suggestions? Ask the schizophrenia societies of Canada. Freedom does not encompass the right to irrational destruction of self or others.

I hope that the deaths of Corporal Jim Galloway and Martin Ostopovich will finally cause changes in our care of the mentally ill. My sincere condolences to both families.

[Resumption Of Debate On Address In Reply, February 12th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank my hon. colleague from Prince George—Peace River for his speech and for his good work on the defence file.

While our armed forces scrape by for real needs, other money flows generously under the table, seamlessly. There was $100 million ordered, politically, for Challenger jets, the procurement period for those Challenger jets to be in the order of some 30 days, while we are in something like a 25 to 30 year procurement period for replacement of Sea Kings. We have another $250 million of advertising ordered politically, and $100 million went for fees and commissions.

I would ask my colleague if he would agree that the general public is holding this widespread belief of many that the government exhibits a culture of corruption and neglect unprecedented in the past 50 years. I would also ask my hon. colleague if he thinks Canadians have a chance for this to change in the future with a Liberal government continuing.

[Justice, November 7th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, Kingsclear boys were taken with the knowledge of New Brunswick Corrections and the RCMP into the back seat of RCMP patrol cars, and to the house of senior RCMP officer Clifford McCann.

If the Solicitor General cannot act on this, will the Prime Minister of Canada have the Kingsclear and post-Kingsclear files seized and conduct an independent review of the entire investigation?

[Justice, November 7th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, hundreds of boys were sexually abused and thousands of assaults inside and outside of Kingsclear Training School in New Brunswick.

Victims have named 14 assaulters yet only Karl Toft was charged criminally. Millions were paid in hush money, including to RCMP Staff Sergeant Clifford McCann's victims. Victims who have come forward have been told by the RCMP not to make complaints.

Will the Solicitor General seize the pre- and post-Kingsclear files, conduct an independent review and report back to Parliament?

[Petitions, November 4th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to rise today to present petitions signed by many Canadians from all across the country. They are calling upon Parliament and Canada to give continued support to the allied effort that is helping the people of Iraq to be free.

[Edmonton Public Library, October 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the Edmonton Public Library is celebrating its 90th year of serving.

For 90 years it has been a repository of worldly knowledge; 90 years of wonderful, uninhibited time travel through volumes of fictional adventure, historical truths and fantastic accomplishment; and 90 years of enriching the lives of Edmontonians.

This past year has been yet another milestone in the ever-developing library. The Lois Hole Library Legacy Program initiated by Lois Hole, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, is planting the seeds to grow the Edmonton Public Library by buying books and materials to enhance the library's collection.

I wish to encourage others to invest, as I have, in the Library Legacy Program. Through knowledge, dreams can evolve. Edmonton's libraries have brought much knowledge and stirred many dreams to become a reality.

I wish to congratulate Edmonton public libraries. May they continue for all time to connect the people of Edmonton to the knowledge and cultures of the world.

[Supply, October 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question and a general comment on the member's speech. My feeling is that the member's support and encouragement for Bill C-20, based on a broader definition and narrow offences, is not supportable on this side. It still is very confusing. This has been recognized by most all authorities.

The question I want to ask the member more specifically is on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It appears that the rights of the criminals to be free and the rights to somehow clarify and save from litigation freedoms of expression and artistic merit seem to carry much more weight in the expression of the speech he has just made, but what about the right of our children to be secure and the right to be protected from harm? We seemingly are decreasing continually the rights of our children to safety and security while the criminals seem to have more and more rights and weaker and weaker penalties. Whose rights are more important?

How does Bill C-20 alter the provisions in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to better protect our children at the end of the day? Perhaps the member could answer that question.

[Supply, October 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps my colleague could comment on one of the concerns that I have, as well as many other members on this side of the House and on the other side too. It is about pornography being considered a gateway, something that will lead to, contribute to eventually and condition people to make the next step to pedophilia, child molestation. We are all concerned with the explosion on the Internet of pornography as it is today and that could lead catastrophically to an explosion in child molestation too, if this is considered to be the first step toward it.

I would like my hon. colleague to comment on that and to reinforce to the government the absolute urgency that this be attended to firmly and squarely with the laws that we do bring down, to prevent this explosion from carrying forward into the everyday world.

[Beacon Heights, October 10th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate Beacon Heights Elementary School in Edmonton, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

The school is particularly noted for its excellent literacy program, while serving a varied student population of 150 in 8 classes from kindergarten to grade 6. The principal and staff at Beacon Heights School believe that children should be given the opportunity to achieve their ability levels and to develop a strong positive sense of self-worth and that these opportunities be provided to each student every day. These are admirable goals of an admirable school.

I congratulate the school on 50 years of academic excellence, 50 years of community learning, and 50 years of educating Edmonton youth. May the Beacon Heights Elementary School principal, Judy Welch, the teachers and staff, the students and the many parent volunteers continue their years of success.

[Korean War, September 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, today, the war in Korea, the forgotten war, is still a war on hold, still not resolved. It is the war that was never declared, but make no mistake, it was a war.

During the war in Korea, 30,000 Canadians served under severe conditions. They gave a small, beleaguered nation the opportunity to be free. The price of this freedom was 516 who never came home, who never grew old.

In Ottawa a privately funded memorial now stands to remind all of the forgotten war and replicates a memorial standing in the United Nations cemetery in Korea.

Today, on Korea's beautiful and green treed hills, there is still a hopefulness for final peace.

Patrick O'Connor of the Royal Canadian Regiment was killed one day after penning these words:

There is blood on the hills of Korea It's the gift of the freedom they love May their names live in glory forever And their souls rest in Heaven above. Let us not forget.