I would say the government cannot support this amendment because of the evidence we've heard that many of these crimes are committed by the same individuals over and over again. We all heard that from Chief Blair in Toronto. We feel sending a message that the minimum will be the same no matter how many times you commit a crime is the wrong message to send.
We've all expressed our commitment in the past to getting tougher on mandatory minimum sentences. This does not in fact do that for repeat offenders. It doesn't go where we feel we should be going when dealing with people who present a serious threat in our cities.
Of course, we support the government position that there would be a minimum of three years and then a minimum of five years on a second or subsequent offence.