Yes, I'll try to be brief.
It's difficult to talk about the constituents. I'm representing the Quebec Bar here today. We have two honourable members who are members of the bar, and they are probably on opposing sides of the issue. So it's difficult to say that we're speaking from one simple point of view.
I am a member of a committee that recruits lawyers who are university professors, crown prosecutors, defence lawyers, and who practise in a wide range of the province. There are people from Montreal, Quebec City, and the province. The committee is balanced in that way. So the Bar of Quebec obviously takes into account the views held by those who are practitioners in the field.
I would dare say, very respectfully, that you're parliamentarians and you obviously have a duty to the people who elect you, and you have a duty to the people of Canada because you are representatives of the people of Canada. But you are also leaders. There may be voices that call to be tough on crime, but we also hear many times that prisons are the universities of crime. That is also a reality.
When this legislation was introduced, Canada was among the countries that imprisoned people more than anyone else. Are we less safe today if we're imprisoning less? Have we done anything wrong from that perspective? Was it a wrong objective to not want to be one of the societies that imprisoned the most? I think those are some of the issues that need to be addressed.
I think the point is well taken. If someone was asking for government subsidies and they did not produce results in relation to what they were asking for, it would be legitimate for members of this Parliament to say no and for them to criticize and hold the government accountable for funding that.
What we're saying is that we haven't seen the studies to support the costs. There are no benefits that are obvious or available for the costs that are going to be incurred by the amendment to this legislation.