Mr. Chair, I appreciate your finding a silver lining in every cloud.
In keeping with what I just said, this is the second-best amendment we could make to this bill. If we're not going to take the regulatory approach with fines, we should make the criminalized part of this, the jail sentences, at least reasonable. This amendment would remove the indictable offence for possession and leave the summary conviction, which would mean that any offence under the possession provisions of this bill would leave a person subject only to summary conviction, with a maximum fine of $5,000, a maximum of six months in prison, or both.
I want to make clear that this is not my first choice, but given that it's the will of the majority of this committee not to move to a regulatory penal system but to maintain a criminalized one, then I suggest that we remove indictable offences from simple acts of possession of cannabis.