Thank you, Madam Speaker. The new Government of Canada, the Liberal government, has a red book that spells out the many commitments and promises that were made in the course of the political campaign. Some of those commitments include changes that they are going to make to the Young Offenders Act. Those are spelled out. There was a discussion with the other Ministers at the Justice Ministers' meeting in Ottawa. I know that we have a range of opinions from the province of Manitoba that agrees with all the suggested changes by the Liberal government, plus they added a few more that they thought should be made to deal with the question of young offenders. On the other hand, we have Quebec, that says they do not agree and would like to have more extensive discussions and work done before any

changes are made. In between those two positions are all the rest of the provinces and territories.

It has been my view that we should put the question of changes to the Young Offenders Act to a meeting of those people who are most directly concerned and affected by this work over the course of the next few months. Perhaps a conference could be arranged where we could have agencies that deal with youth, community leaders who are concerned with it, and women's groups who are concerned with it, to deal with the question of what we do with young offenders. The federal government seems intent on moving ahead with the commitments in the red book.

I can't say those commitments are going to be rationalized. There was a discussion suggesting that perhaps we should hold off on the short term, deal with everything as a big package, and put off changes to the Young Offenders Act as federal legislation until a more comprehensive review of the question is done. At this time, I would say that it appears the federal government is intent on fulfilling its commitments as laid out.

Thank you. Madam Speaker, the government does not have a specific position with regard to the proposed changes of the federal government, as outlined in their red book. We are involved in discussions about them, but have not yet come to a clear, firm position on the proposed changes.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. That's good advice to take. I also want to remain open to positions being suggested by community groups and organizations that also have concerns about the issue of young offenders. I think the federal government is going to go ahead with the specific commitments laid out in the red book in any case, regardless of our position. But we will try to come up with a firm position in the next month or so. Thank you.