Citizen's Arrest and Self-defence Act  Mr. Speaker, the single biggest concern with respect to the bill is how it will be perceived by the public. If it is perceived in the public as opening the door to vigilantism, we will have done a disservice. There are good aspects to the bill. I believe that it will become law given the will that is expressed in the House.

Citizen's Arrest and Self-defence Act  Mr. Speaker, this gives me an opportunity to provide my colleague opposite with something that was just printed in The Economist today, which states: The crime rate in Canada fell last year to its lowest level since the early 1970s, and the murder rate is back where it was in the mid-1960s.

Citizen's Arrest and Self-defence Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to address Bill C-26, yet another crime bill from the Conservatives. I will begin by just commenting on this preoccupation with crime. Since the election, we have seen bills introduced in this House on human smuggling. We had the omnibus crime bill, which wrapped together nine separate statutes.

Safe Streets and Communities Act  Mr. Speaker, I just want to follow up on that last answer. The suggestion from the hon. member is that the mandatory minimum sentence would provide a deterrent and yet there is no evidence for this. In fact, there is evidence in the United States to the contrary. My question is whether the member's view of the criminal law is that the right way to go is “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, or does he subscribe to a more enlightened view based on proportionality?

Safe Streets and Communities Act  Mr. Speaker, my question for the hon. member relates to the impact of this bill on the provincial coffers. In my province, provincial institutions are already strained. This will add an additional strain, yet apparently there is no compensation that comes with it. We have heard from the Canadian Association of Crown Prosecutors that there is a lot of money for police and prisons, but in between there is a system that is stressed to the max and that system is largely the responsibility of provincial governments.

Safe Streets and Communities Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her presentation and for focusing on the impact on our aboriginal communities. It strikes me that when the only implement in the tool box is a sledgehammer, everything starts to look like a rock. I would seek the hon. member's comments on a more sophisticated approach to reforming our criminal justice system, as opposed to the one before us in the bill, and in particular with respect to the misplaced emphasis on retribution versus crime prevention and a focus on the root causes of crime.

Safe Streets and Communities Act  Mr. Speaker, my question for the member relates to his comments with respect to the impact on provincial treasuries. What will invariably happen is more people will be in provincial institutions and that will result in charter challenges based on the overcrowding of jails or a dramatic strain on provincial budgets.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak to the bill before the House. I will begin with a quote that sums up the government's approach quite nicely: If one says “mandatory life imprisonment” quickly and often, without thinking about it too deeply, it sounds tough and that is what politicians like to do.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Windsor—Tecumseh for his, as usual, insightful remarks. I certainly share the member's concern with respect to the rate at which bills are being jammed through the House and how debate is being limited, especially at committee. The member would be well aware that the omnibus crime bill, before the justice committee, was initially subjected to a five minutes per clause examination until basically the opposition parties kicked back and negotiated a lengthier time period for that.

Canada Water Preservation Act  Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise to speak in support of the bill by my colleague from Lac-Saint-Louis, who very kindly attended my riding of Charlottetown not very long ago. We had a very well-attended town hall on water. This is a very important issue right across the country, from coast to coast.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition signed by about 100 residents of Saskatoon. They call upon Parliament to request that the federal Minister of the Environment consider bringing in legislation to require all unsolicited admail and flyers to be produced using easily recyclable hemp paper; phasing in of the use of only hemp paper in the production of all flyers; and, especially in the distribution of flyers, compliance with all “no flyers” signs at private residences at all times, with the exception of election material during elections and material from charities and local community events.

Keeping Canada's Economy and Jobs Growing Act  Mr. Speaker, I was interested in the comments of my colleague with respect to the gas tax. He went on at some length about how the gas tax is now a guaranteed amount. In actual fact, this budget has capped the gas tax transfer to municipalities. What I found interesting was how he put it into a conversation.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to believe that in 2011 many of our harbours, including Charlottetown's, are still receiving raw sewage. New federal environmental rules force municipalities to treat raw sewage and we welcome that. However, these regulations mean additional costs to communities that are already strained with aging infrastructure.

Preventing Persons from Concealing Their Identity during Riots and Unlawful Assemblies Act  Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak to Bill C-309, but I want to begin by confronting the Conservatives on their obsession with crime. We have before us a bill ostensibly produced by the folks in the Prime Minister's Office or the Conservative House leader's office. I think we need to be clear about this.

Preventing Persons from Concealing Their Identity during Riots and Unlawful Assemblies Act  Mr. Speaker, my concern with the legislation also relates to the wide breadth given to the phrase “lawful excuse” by the hon. member and the fact that this bill to amend the Criminal Code has been brought forward as a private member's bill. It strikes me that with the government's preoccupation with law and order and the fact that there have been substantial amendments to criminal legislation already, the breadth of the term “lawful excuse”, which causes me great concern from a charter perspective, would be subject to much further and better scrutiny from the perspective of whether there would be a charter violation if this had come in as a piece of government legislation.