Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her speech. In particular, I appreciated that she shared her personal story. She clearly understands the importance of these animals.
I would simply like to reiterate a point that has already been mentioned by my colleague regarding minimum sentences and so on. The NDP will be supporting this bill. That said, even the Minister of Justice said that minimum sentences have not had a demonstrable deterrent effect.
Can the hon. member share evidence or scientific studies that can explain why there are minimum sentences in this bill?