I'm not going to support the amendment for three reasons, and I accept that prima facie it looks like a pretty reasonable thing to do.
But the first point is that the package of amendments that is proposed in the bill has evolved as a result of PTA agreements--federal-provincial agreements with the provinces--and discussions. The specific amendment now proposed is at variance and inconsistent with what had been agreed to in those discussions.
Second, the provision, the way it's been constructed now, either directly or indirectly imposes a specific automatic procedural burden on a prosecutor. This would be new. Prior to this, or based on the package of amendments that have come through, a prosecutor would be obligated to respond if requested, but the amendment that's proposed by Mr. Bagnell will make it an automatic procedure, a must-have, and if it's not there you're going to get your charges thrown out. I think that should be vetted before we impose it.
Third, we're trying to fix something that, based on the current law of the land, is not broken. Our courts, both on the criminal side and the official languages side, if I take the testimony here at face value, have found that the on-request mechanism proposed by the bill, not by the amendment, is a satisfactory resolution to the two-language challenges we have right across the country in the criminal process.
I'm reluctant to, on the fly, impose this new procedural and legal benchmark without vetting it through the system. I'll leave aside the question of costs that may be there. They may be minor, but believe me, if you have to do something in every case where there's a section 530--that's every case, without exception--if you don't do it right, you lose your case, and I don't want to go there yet.
Thank you.