Mr. Speaker, I often rise in this House to speak about crime in my community: street disorder, property theft and the ever-present threat of fires from discarded drug pipes. However, today I rise to address something very different: the crimes of repeat violent offenders. These are not the petty offences of someone down on their luck or struggling with addiction. These are acts of violence committed again and again by people with no moral compass, the predators who prey on the vulnerable, who exploit women and girls and who torment and kill to satisfy their own dark impulses.
We know some of the more famous names and the more famous crimes. These are people like Paul Bernardo, Robert Pickton and Clifford Olson, predators who sexually assault children, who traffic and exploit women and who murder indigenous girls simply because they believe they can. These are the offenders who revel in cruelty. They exploit every stage of the justice system to amplify their notoriety.
Perhaps most disturbingly, they exploit the parole process itself. Every few years, when their eligibility comes up, the families of victims are forced to relive the worst moments in their lives. They prepare impact statements. They gather letters of support. They steel themselves to face the person who shattered their world. They travel long distances at their own expense, often missing work or school. They sit in rooms where the memories are almost unbearable, listening to gruesome details that reopen wounds they have struggled for years to heal.
These families describe the weeks leading up to a parole hearing as a living nightmare. They do not sleep. They worry constantly about what the offender might say. They brace themselves for the possibility of release, however remote, or for the performance of false remorse that so many violent offenders are skilled at delivering. When the hearing is over, they know the clock immediately starts up again for the next application. The cycle of trauma and retraumatization is relentless and cruel.
Let us consider Daniel Senecal. He sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy, was sentenced to just two and a half years in jail and was released after 18 months. He is now alleged to have broken into a home and sexually assaulted a three-year-old girl named Eve while her parents slept. She was asleep in her own bed, where she should have been safe. Cases like this demand action because they show the devastating consequences of a system that gives chance after chance to people who have already demonstrated violent intent.
That is why I speak today in support of our Conservative motion calling on the Liberal government to institute a “three strikes and you're out” law for serious violent crimes. The proposal is clear and direct. If someone commits three serious violent crimes, crimes like murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery or sexual assault, they should forfeit the privilege of bail, probation, parole and house arrest and serve a minimum sentence of 10 years.
Why three strikes? It is because Canadians believe in redemption. Everyone deserves a chance to turn their life around, and that is why rehabilitation and diversion programs exist. Some people want to change, and our justice system rightly tries to leave space for that no matter how difficult it can be, but when someone repeatedly chooses violence despite every opportunity to change, the calculation should shift.
After a first, second and third conviction for serious violent offences, the government's primary duty should no longer be to offer another chance. It should be to protect the public. This is not about vengeance or filling prisons. It is about balance and the gravity of these crimes. Our democratic principles rightly demand restraint before we take away liberty, but when a pattern of serious violence is established, when the record shows a person is unwilling to stop, society must act.
A balanced Conservative approach rests on three truths. First, compassion matters. We must continue to invest in rehabilitation and social services that address the roots of crime. No one is suggesting that prevention and rehabilitation be abandoned with this motion. However, we must also have compassion for victims and their families. We cannot eliminate the trauma of having to provide victim impact statements and prepare for parole hearings entirely, but we can space them out in circumstances like these, to take steps to mitigate it.
Second, consequences matter. When individuals repeatedly choose violence, society has a right to extrapolate and take action to protect our society. The victims of violent crimes and their families have rights too, rights to safety, dignity and freedom from repeated trauma.
Third, community matters. Public safety is the foundation on which opportunity and prosperity are built. When people are afraid to walk to work, when parents are anxious every time their children leave the house and when seniors feel unsafe in their own homes, the very fabric of our community starts to unravel.
People in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith know this instinctively. Whether a young renter in downtown Nanaimo, a parent in Ladysmith or a senior in the south end, we all want a justice system that offers hope to those who can be helped and firm boundaries for those who will not change.
Protecting citizens from repeat violent offenders should not be a partisan issue. It is a core responsibility of the federal government to keep us safe. However, this government has weakened bail conditions, expanded house arrest and ignored warnings from police chiefs, premiers and mayors across the country.
We can respect the charter while protecting the public. We can uphold fairness and mercy while ensuring that repeat violent offenders face real consequences. These goals need not be in conflict. As a Conservative and as a Canadian, I believe in fairness, in the rule of law and in the possibility of rehabilitation, but I also believe in responsibility and in the right of every parent to feel safe with their children sleeping in a room downstairs and letting them walk to school.
Police officers and first responders, people who dedicate their lives to keeping us safe, tell me they are demoralized by our current system. The revolving door of justice does not distinguish adequately between minor offences and the kinds of violent, predatory crimes I speak of today. The current situation is not merely frustrating; it puts the public at risk and erodes faith in the rule of law.
We act not out of contempt for criminals but out of compassion for victims. The measure we propose through this motion is a carefully targeted tool for the most serious cases. It is a balanced proposal that seeks to spare families some of the pain of repeated parole hearings and the constant fear of an offender's next application, by lessening the frequency of those events without eliminating the offender's right to have them. It supports law enforcement and reaffirms the fundamental principle that the safety of Canadians must come first.
This motion calls for those convicted of three serious violent offences to be denied bail, probation, parole and house arrest and to remain in prison for at least 10 years. It will help restore public confidence in our justice system, give families of victims a genuine respite and chance to heal, and deny repeat violent offenders parts of the platform they crave to sensationalize their crimes.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the House to support this motion. Let us act together to protect Canadians, to stand with victims and their families and to ensure that those who repeatedly choose violence can no longer terrorize our communities.