I have to disagree with my esteemed colleague, Mr. Comartin, that by virtue of requiring the prosecutor to advise the court whether he or she intends to make an application for a remand and assessment, somehow this will, one, lead to a court challenge by the provinces, and two, such a court challenge would be successful.
In fact, it does not at all go to the actual meat of the issue, which is whether or not an application should be made. That remains in the confines of the provincial jurisdiction. This in no way impedes the authority of the provincial attorney general to make the determination that, yes, an application should go forward or, no, an application should not go forward for whatever reason. All it does is require that the decision be made known to the court. That's all.
Right now, under the current system, there is no obligation for the prosecution to advise the court that it will be seeking such an application. Many experts who deal with the dangerous offender system, including defence attorneys, have pointed to the fact that it is a weakness of the system. I have had the opportunity to discuss this with not all the provincial attorneys general but several of some of the most populous provinces, and they had no issue with the requirement to advise the court of the intention to seek or not to seek an application.
Therefore, I will not be supporting the amendment NDP-8.
(Amendment negatived)