Mr. Speaker, I have no aversion, neither personally nor professionally, with regard to mandatory minimum penalties.
I have studied the evidence both domestically and internationally and, as I have said, I am always open to any other evidentiary appreciations that I am not aware of. I have done a very comprehensive study of the evidence domestically and internationally which shows that mandatory minimum penalties serve neither as a deterrent nor are they effective.
I found that counter-intuitive. I thought when I looked into it that mandatory minimums would work but the evidence has shown that they do not. The evidence has shown that mandatory minimums have outcomes for the criminal justice system that are prejudicial to the very purposes we are seeking to bring about, namely that they tend to bring about lower imprisonments. In other words, mandatory minimums become the maximum rather than the minimum. We have protracted cases where less people enter guilty pleas.
That is why, for example, the American Bar Association in 2004 called for the repeal of all mandatory minimum sentences in the United States. The United States Supreme Court, during a case in 2005, said that it would be unconstitutional to require mandatory guidelines and said that it should look to sentencing in terms of an advisory approach.
A comprehensive study done in Canada looked at the situation internationally as well as domestically and came to the conclusion that mandatory minimum sentences were neither effective nor deterrents. If it can be shown that they would be deterrents, that they would be effective and that they would not be prejudicial to our shared objectives in the criminal justice system of deterring crime I would have no aversion to it.
Our approach is based on the proportionality principle in sentencing namely, that the sentence should reflect the gravity of the offence and the responsibility of the offender. I want to state something that I think on this point the courts appreciate with regard to this offence. A review of Criminal Code cases from March 2004 to February 2005 identified at least 31 individuals who were charged with traffic and related offences. This resulted in 19 convictions and the remaining 12 cases are before the courts. In all cases, sentences were imposed of up to 9.5 years imprisonment, and I am talking about before this legislation with its maximum life imprisonment and the signal that sends to would-be offenders.