I thought you said $52,000. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in my opening comments, I talked about where I think there should be either new resources or where there should be reallocation of present resources, and this is the activity that I am talking about. I really believe that an extra $1 million spent on this activity is, five years down the line, going to save you many millions in the next two activities -- in the alcohol and drugs/community mental health area or in the whole area of people being on social services.
So this is the area that I am going to be looking at, hopefully, in a supp, if not new money. If you can't wrest new money from the Minister of Finance, then seriously consider some reallocation of funds.
My second point is in response to something that the Minister said about child sexual abuse which I want to emphasize. I think it's the most serious social problem facing us in the territories. I agree with the Minister that, over the last five years, it is now easier for people to talk about it. It is something that is now being discussed at a community level and people are starting to report what's going on. That is a very positive sign, but that in itself is not going to solve the problem.
For me, it is a multi-faceted approach to the problem. I, for one -- and other MLAs in the Legislative Assembly may disagree with me, but I have been quite consistent over the years -- have very little sympathy for child sexual abusers, and I am happy to see that the trend across the country is that the sentences for convicted child sexual abusers are getting longer. Society is taking it more seriously and I, for one, am happy to see that.
Though I agree that we need more rehabilitation, the reality is that child sexual abuse is a very difficult area for rehabilitation.
I take it one step further, I agree with the stiff sentences for sexual abusers. For repeat offenders, as far I am concerned, you should throw away the damned key -- sorry, Mr. Chairman -- because I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for repeat offenders.
I think, when we talk about the social and personal problems that lead somebody to abuse a child, we have to keep in mind the child itself. The child, he or she, is very vulnerable and very, very innocent. I think if ever it comes to a choice between an offender, for whatever horrible things might have happened to them over their life -- and I agree that a lot of them have had horrible experiences -- our ultimate and first line of defence has to be for those innocent children. Any society that can't defend their children, I think, loses all credibility as being a society. In the history of the world, every healthy culture and every healthy civilization has always had an extremely severe taboo against child sexual abuse.
So I think that community leaders and community groups have to be continually encouraged to speak out against child sexual abuse. It has to be very clear to everybody that nobody in our society condones it, whatsoever. I believe it's very important that we get that point across in any way possible.
What I hope to see from the department over the next year is some really strong leadership in this area. I think there has been a good base that's been built. I think the department has done a lot of good work to get us to where we are, but I think it's time to go to the next step. I think there is always some hesitance because the reality is that the problem is so profound, potentially so severe, it is almost overwhelming to try to deal with. I think, though, if we don't deal with it now the problem is going to compound many times for the next generation.
So I don't have a question for the Minister, but I just want the Minister and the deputy to clearly know where I am coming from and the sort of leadership that I'll be looking at when we come back here in the fall session. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.