Thank you, Chair.
Thanks to the witnesses for their presentations.
Ms. Tkachyk, I have just one bit of a correction. You mentioned a government news release or something on this bill. To be clear, this Bill S-203 is not a government bill; it's a bill coming forward from a member of the Senate. So the issue is do we as a committee support that Senate bill or not. It's certainly not part of anything that we as a government have put forward.
Ms. Markham, on your understanding of the bill, am I correct that if an individual has committed an act of cruelty towards an animal and is arrested, tried, and convicted for an act of cruelty towards an animal, the bill that Senator Bryden has put forward would mean that the sentencing judge would have a higher penalty to impose on the convicted person? Is that your understanding of the bill?