It seems that the peace process officially undertaken in 1991 will soon come to a successful conclusion. The Bloc Quebecois salutes the tenacity and the dedication of the Guatemalan people, of Rigoberta Menchu, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and strong defender of the rights of the native majority, as well as the efforts of all supporters of democracy and the good work of United Nations mediators. These mediators helped find a lasting solution to a brutal armed conflict that has claimed more than 100,000 lives and forced one million Guatemalans into exile. With the conclusion of this agreement for peace, security and justice between guerillas and the government, we can now hope for lasting peace and a true democracy in that country. Mr. Speaker, I have spent a lot of time in the bush and, with this being National Family Week, I have to say that animals in the forest treat their young better than we do.
Families are the building blocks of society.
The old line parties structured income tax so that families in which one parent stays at home to care for children pay many thousands of dollars more in taxes than families that pay someone else to look after their youngsters. Regarding safety, the Liberals still put the rights of criminals ahead of society's right for safety. After all, it is the children who are the main victims of young offenders. And kids themselves want the Young Offenders Act made a lot tougher. In many cities today kids dare not wear a favourite T-shirt or sports cap to school for fear they will be mugged or it will be stolen.