I just have a quick question.
I do appreciate that any one of you could have filled an entire committee. You've raised a lot of important issues—youth at risk, the resources for police—and took particular note of the need to better deal with communication between police and the different levels of government. That's something that this government is going to continue to strive for--to work on methods so that we can better facilitate that cooperation. Specifically, on youth at risk, I know that the Minister of Public Safety has a keen interest in that.
One component of all of what we can do, as federal legislators, is on the legislation side, on the Criminal Code side, and we are dealing right now with a bill that does target gang-related activity. Bill C-10 targets gang-related activity, particularly when it involves handguns, but also any weapon, if it involves a gang-related activity. So I want to get some comment.
Mr. Richmond, I believe you said in your presentation that
...it is likely that in most prosecutions for a crime committed with a firearm, proving the use of a restricted or prohibited firearm will be easier than proving a connection with a criminal organization.
That's one of the reasons that provision is in there, because we've mentioned that in these cases in Toronto we've had a number of summers now that have seen such an increase in violence over what people are used to. We heard from Chief Blair from Toronto. He mentioned the type of weapons that are often used in these crimes, the prevalence right now and the difficulty in targeting gang-related activity, and the fact that there's an acknowledgement on the part of many of the participants that there's not going to be a severe consequence because they know many of their fellow gang members have not been met with a severe consequence for their actions.
Would any of you like to comment specifically on Bill C-10, on the fact that it does bring in some tougher sentences for people who use a restricted or prohibited firearm or for one of the designated offences when it is linked to a criminal organization? With respect to some of the offences targeted—attempted murder, robbery, extortion, aggravated sexual assault—many of those involve criminal actions that have been associated with gang activity. Would any number of you like to comment on how Bill C-10 will impact on that?