Rob Merrifield

[RCMP and Law Enforcement in Canada, April 12th, 2005]

Mr. Chair, I listened very intently to the hon. member, who is in a neighbouring riding, the closest riding to me with regard to these slain officers, so I think her community feels the impact of this as intensely as we do in Yellowhead.

There is a significant problem in Yellowhead. It has been addressed somewhat by the media. We tried to address it here when I introduced a private member's bill on methamphetamine, but marijuana certainly is a significant problem.

I think it is important for the House to understand that marijuana from the 1970s and the hippie movement was at 3% to 5% THC. As for what we are seeing on the streets now, I talked to an RCMP officer in my riding who told me that now most of the grow ops are into the upper 20% to 30% THC levels, so this is a completely different product, which is what the RCMP officers are saying. I do not think we quite understand that when we get into a debate in the House, but my hon. colleague would know some of these things because of the significant problems we are seeing.

Marijuana is a big problem. This incident also sheds light on that problem in that this individual had a grow op, not of 20 plants but of 283 plants valued at over $300,000. He certainly was not smoking that all by himself; obviously he was linked to some sort of organized crime.

I have to tell the House how big a problem grow ops are in this nation. Why is there such a problem with methamphetamine and how do we link the two? That is what we are seeing happening on the streets and in the schoolyards in our ridings where the marijuana is being laced by methamphetamine, which is a very addictive product.

I am no expert, but the professionals tell me that of people who use this twice, over 92% become addicted. This product is unbelievable when it comes to ravaging the individual. The average lifespan of an individual on crystal meth is seven years. That is why it is such a significant problem.

I would like to ask my colleague about her concerns with this drug. Our riding happens to be the unfortunate target of the methamphetamine labs and there are significant amounts of methamphetamine use. It has happened since I became a member in 2000 and has progressed over the last number of years. Communities have linked arms to do their very best to push back against it. There is no lack of political will. There are tremendous amounts of resources going to fight this, but I can tell the House that we are losing that fight.

I wonder if my colleague has the same concerns in her riding with this very significant problem. Her riding is very close to mine along the Yellowhead highway. The reason it is important to bring it into this debate is that if members of Parliament do not believe it is a problem in their ridings, they just have to wait a very short time and it will be. I guarantee it.

[RCMP and Law Enforcement in Canada, April 12th, 2005]

Mr. Chair, I understand my colleague's comments with regard to this being a mental illness case rather than a law enforcement case, but I do not believe that for a minute. I do not think anyone living in our communities believes this man was insane. He was a master manipulator who had manipulated the court system since he was 12 years old. He received over 30 convictions. That is not the issue here.

The issue is that we have this one incident and woe to the House if we do not take note of it. We have to understand that we have a problem in society and in our criminal justice system. We have a serious situation and it has developed over a number of years. We had better wake up and do something about it because it will get worse and we will see a repeat of what happened in Mayerthorpe.

There are individuals like Mr. Roszko in every riding across the country. We had better understand that this could happen in any one of our ridings. Our police officers are doing their very best with the resources they have. Our court system has failed them. We have failed them with their resources. We will continue to fail them in the House with weak laws that do not allow them to do their job properly.

I would ask the hon. member to seriously consider that this was not mental illness. If he wants to use that as an argument, I would say the government has serious problems dealing with mental illness, if we are looking at that as an issue.

That is not the case with respect to this incident. Nor is it the case with respect to the criminal element that is loose in our society. We continue to return them to our communities. These offenders will keep repeating if we do not do something about them.

I implore the House to understand the importance of taking note of this incident.

[RCMP and Law Enforcement in Canada, April 12th, 2005]

Mr. Chair, I listened intently to my hon. colleague go on and on about how wonderful our RCMP forces are across the country and how great a job they are doing in municipalities, provinces and for the nation. I could not agree with him more but what we are here tonight to do is to take note of an incident that happened with regard to the police force.

I am wondering what the member, who is a member of the Liberal Party, has to say with regard to our weak laws and the way that the government has moved us and allowed the pendulum to swing so that we have taken such a soft approach to our criminal justice system. How was a man like Mr. Roszko allowed out on the streets after 30 convictions? Why did we just slap his hand, turn him loose and allow him to intimidate a community and many lives in the process? Why have we taken such a soft approach on drugs and on sexual offenders and predators?

For me, when a nation fails to protect itself from the criminals in society it is on very dangerous ground. I believe that is where we have allowed ourselves to come as a society.

Tonight we take note of an incident in reflection of the role of the RCMP. I wonder what the member would have to say to the family members who are watching right now with regard to this incident and the failure of our criminal justice system in light of what has happened.

[RCMP and Law Enforcement in Canada, April 12th, 2005]

Mr. Chair, I have a question with regard to our criminal justice system.

I am sure my colleague is fully aware of this but for the information of the rest of the House, in British Columbia last year one in seven grow operators were convicted. The police go in, raid a place and find a grow op. Most of these grow ops are anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000 operations, so they are not small. They are a very large part of organized crime. Only one in seven in British Columbia did any time at all. Only one in Calgary in my province of Alberta did any time at all. Of those who did time, 50% did less than a year.

Is the criminal very nervous about being caught? I do not think so. We as a society are saying to the criminal that it is okay to break the law, that we are not going to apply the law. We plea bargain in most of these cases.

I am wondering what my colleague thinks of minimum sentencing. When I asked the question the other day, the Minister of Justice said that it does not work. Well, what we have is not working. I wonder if my colleague would answer that.

[RCMP and Law Enforcement in Canada, April 12th, 2005]

Mr. Chair, the member is absolutely right that the RCMP officers are not resourced properly. Why is that? We have a government that has neglected our criminal justice system and law enforcement in this country for a decade or more.

I will mention that the one group of individuals that the weak law enforcement in rural areas and particularly in my riding is not lost on is the criminals. We are seeing many grow ops and a massive drug problem with marijuana. We are seeing a tremendous problem with methamphetamine.

If members do not think that this country had better take note of what is actually happening with crystal methamphetamine, then they do not understand exactly what is happening, particularly in the rural areas. Out of sight, out of mind is the idea behind a lot of criminals. They understand they can get away with a tremendous amount when the law enforcement officers are stretched to the max and cannot do the job that needs to be done. We need to push back against this criminal element that is coming at us with a vengeance.

I have been a member of Parliament since 2000 and drug use has increased unbelievably. It is not because of a lack of political will in my riding. Communities have joined arms. Social services, RCMP, the educational system and the health care system have joined together. We need to hire more police. Actually we need to hire more communications people and get into the schools.

We are still losing the battle on the crystal methamphetamine problem. There is a serious problem not only with crystal meth, but when these people get into court, the courts turn them back into the community. That has to stop if we are to save this country from what will be a tremendously serious problem in the future.

[RCMP and Law Enforcement in Canada, April 12th, 2005]

Mr. Chair, I was talking to the mother of one of the fallen officers just two days ago. She explained to me that her son was not supposed to be on duty at the time of this killing, but was called in because of the lack of RCMP officers in the Mayerthorpe detachment.

That is not new to rural Alberta. That is not new to rural areas right across the country from coast to coast. That is exactly what is happening. Not only do we not have enough RCMP officers, but they do not have enough of the resources they need to do their job. That absolutely has to change.

It is frustrating to see individuals attacking front line RCMP officers. The Mayerthorpe detachment has a list of individuals who are considered dangerous. In fact, every police force across Canada has a list of known criminals. The incident that happened in Mayerthorpe could happen in every one of our 308 ridings.

If this is not something of which the House of Commons and in fact the whole of Canada needs to take note, then we are asking to have this incident repeated again. We dare not let that happen or these officers will have died in vain.

[RCMP and Law Enforcement in Canada, April 12th, 2005]

Mr. Chair, it is a pleasure for me to stand and lend my voice to the debate this evening. I thank the party House leaders for granting my request for this debate. It is very important that we discuss and take note of this specific incident with regard RCMP and law enforcement in the country. It is critical. This is the worst incident we have seen of RCMP members losing their lives, or members of associate forces, since 1885.

We pause and need to take note of what we do this evening within these walls with regard to the four slain officers in Mayerthorpe in my riding and very near my residence, Anthony Gordon, Leo Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter Schiemann. I want to thank Canadians for the outpouring of support for the families, friends, colleagues and the four young men.

This is a very dangerous business. These men knew it and accepted it. Thousands of men and women across the country put their lives on the line each day. We need to remember that. They do it by dedicating themselves to the service of the country. There has been a change.

I will be splitting my time, Mr. Speaker, with the member for Central Nova, as was requested earlier.

I want to talk about the change that we have seen in law enforcement and what police officers are faced with on the streets. When I attended many of the memorial services for these young fallen officers, I spoke to police forces. They told me that not only were they walking into dangerous incidents, they were becoming targets of criminals. When criminals lose respect for law enforcers and lose the fear of the criminal justice system, then we are in a very dangerous situation.

We have an opportunity tonight to come into the House as legislators and make laws for the country. We can take an incident like this and say that it was one crazy individual committing an unbelievably heinous crime or we can pause and ask ourselves what have we learned and what should we change so this will not repeat itself time and time again. That is what is challenging every man and woman in the House and that is what we should be taking note of today. Not only should we be taking note of it federally, but also provincially. We have responsibilities in both jurisdictions.

I would like to talk about this killer for a minute. This individual had 30 criminal charges over three decades and 8 convictions. Some of them involved firearms, break and entry, lawful confinement, death threats, possession of stolen property and assault. The individual should not have been on the streets. It is one of the most horrendous stories one will hear when talking to residents of the Mayerthorpe area. They will say how this man intimidated a community, police officers and families. He had no business being out of the court system.

The courts failed not only these officers and the community but the country, and we have to do something about it. This incident draws attention to not only the lax court system but also the lax way that we deal with drugs. It draws attention to a gun registry that absolutely does not work, never will work and did not protect the community in this case. It never would even if we could comply with it. It is a waste of $2 billion up to this point.

This case talks about sex abuse crimes. We have a situation where Carla Homolka, one of the worst we have seen, is about to be released into our community. We have a sex offenders list and she will not be on it. We have to understand what is going on in our weak court system.

I have laid out the issues, but before my time expires, I want to talk specifically about some of the things about which one family talked. The family's words are much more powerful than a politician's. Brock Myrol's mother said:

It is time that our government take a stand on evil...

It is time to take our liberal-minded attitude to task.

Prime Minister, we depend on you and expect you to change the laws and give the courts real power. Give the police real power. Take the power away from the Supreme Court and give it back to the House of Commons.

Our country is hurting. We lost four dedicated citizens who were willing to do something about it.

I have another letter that was written by a family member yesterday. She said:

It is not acceptable that it has taken a tragedy of such immense proportion... to hopefully have drawn the public's attention to the value of, and the dangers faced by, law enforcement/and peace officers daily...due to shortages of members and resources.

But mostly because of the failure and inadequacies of the justice system in not implementing the laws we already have.

We have an opportunity this evening to do something. We can either walk away from this incident or do something about it. I implore the House to take note of the incident and do something about it.

[Petitions, April 11th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to present, on behalf of my constituents of Yellowhead, three petitions with thousands of names with regard to the definition of marriage. The petitioners are very concerned at the unintended consequences of marriage and they want the definition of marriage to remain as being between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others.

[Committees of the House, April 11th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Health.

The committee has considered Bill C-206, an act to amend the Food and Drugs Act, warning labels regarding the consumption of alcohol, pursuant to Standing Order 97.1. Your committee recommends that the House of Commons not proceed further with the bill.

[Question No. 90, April 7th, 2005]

With regard to health spending: ( a ) of the $90 million committed in Budget Plan 2003 for improving national health human resources planning and coordination, the forecasting of human health resources needs and for the expansion of professional development programs, how much has been spent and how has it been disbursed; ( b ) specifying in any case the launch and completion dates, and the cost, how much has the government spent during the last five fiscal years on sectoral studies on physicians, nurses and other health professionals; and ( c ) based on current trends and specifying the numbers for each profession at each point in time, how many doctors and nurses does the government foresee Canada having in five, ten and 20 years, and by how much in each case, if at all, will these numbers be short of or in excess of Canadian requirements?

(Return tabled)