Corrections and Conditional Release Act  Mr. Speaker, the people in my riding, and in ridings across this country, are worried about jobs. In my province, my constituents are worried about raw sewage in the harbour. Islanders have been trying since 2006 to convince the Conservative government to lay an electricity cable

Corrections and Conditional Release Act  Mr. Speaker, I am rising once again to speak to a Conservative backbench private member's bill on crime. It is really amazing to me and to many Canadians how the right-wing republicans across the aisle continue to introduce so many so-called crime bills. We read today in the new

Citizen's Arrest and Self-defence Act  Mr. Speaker, there are some good things in the bill. First, the provisions with respect to citizen's arrest are good. The provisions with respect to defence of property are good. The provisions with respect to self-defence, require further discussion because they may be too broad

Citizen's Arrest and Self-defence Act  Mr. Speaker, I wish I could say yes, but, quite frankly, I have not. Actions speak louder than words. I am the associate justice critic for the Liberal Party, so from time to time I am pressed into duty. So far in this session of Parliament, in the limited time I have spent in th

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

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

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

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

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 f

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 o

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

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 t

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 wou

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 coun

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 recycl