On the other hand, since prohibition days New York state has had the toughest North American gun laws outside of Mexico, yet the murder rate there is five times higher than in Canada. I do not know why, but I suspect the presence of organized crime, widespread drug abuse, racial tension and grinding poverty just might have something to do with it. Instead of concentrating on the emotional rantings of the Coalition for Gun Control, the Minister of Justice should inform himself by comparing firearms legislation and crime statistics in a wide variety of jurisdictions. Prejudice makes bad law. Mr. Speaker, government programs and policies should help preserve and strengthen traditional families.
Families are the basic unit of society.
A strong family life is important to instilling good moral values and coping with the day to day pressures of living. When I speak about traditional family values I do not disparage the loving and often heroic efforts of single or divorced parents. Nothing determines the shape of a child's life more powerfully than his or her values, beliefs and sense of right and wrong. It is the values parents teach their children that will determine a child's fate and our country's future. Families are the instrument through which values and traditions are passed from generation to generation.