I wasn't sure if we were quite ready to move on. I want to speak just briefly to this clause, to all three clauses.
I just want to get in a bit of a point that hasn't been brought up yet. I'm sure the Bloc is well aware of what I'm going to be talking about. It was in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, where an 11-year-old boy was gunned down while playing with another 11-year-old on a playground at a church, when there was a gang war in Montreal.
That sort of changed how policing responded to gangs, violence and shootings. They reached the point where they had had enough. Now, we are talking here, in this clause, about drive-by shootings, which is exactly what happened there to that family and to that victim. It was horrific. Every day in Parliament we're talking—and it is not just the Conservatives but also the Bloc—about the increase in violence in Montreal and especially in drive-by shootings. Now here we are discussing conditional sentences, almost, for this offence.
Of all the offences with guns, drive-by shooting has to be the most serious. It is with intent. It is not just somebody taking their shotgun out and firing off a few shots. This is intended to kill someone. Unfortunately, these gangsters are not the best shots. They end up killing civilians and innocent children.
I do not want go on. We talked quite a bit about this at our last meeting. We have to focus more on crime prevention. For people who commit these crimes, there has to be a deterrent. It does not matter who it is. If it is a Canadian, there has to be a deterrent to this. We need to start really going back into the root of the problem, which is crime prevention and not having youth getting involved in gangs and organized crime and gun violence and the illegal drug trade. That is where I believe we need to focus.
I just wanted to get that point out before we moved onto another clause.
Thank you, Chair.