That would be fine.
I would like to dispel a perception from my guests, if there appeared to be a hostility toward your position versus the government's position of defending the rights of the victims among the Canadian population.
It goes through to what I perceive as minimum mandatory penalties serving a real purpose. The purpose was not for an incarcerating, “hang 'em high” kind of approach. There are two reasons that are absolutely clear and crystal, and they have been demonstrated to deliver results.
One of course is for those nefarious individuals, and there are some bad characters—and this is certainly not the entire population of criminals, because there are criminals by happenstance as well.... Those who are nefarious need to be put away for a longer period of time for the public safety and the public protection. This absolutely does guarantee that kind of public protection.
But the other main point—the main purpose—of minimum mandatory sentences is to act as an effective deterrent. This goes back to the point of presumption. While I recognize your point of presumption, and I think it is a very valid and good argument, my point would be this. Would it serve as that effective deterrent if it were presumptive rather than mandatory? I am asking for your opinion on that.