I don't think I'll take that long, Mr. Chairman, but thank you very much.
I'm pleased to be here once again before the committee for this review of Bill C-15, the bill dealing with mandatory prison time for people who commit serious drug offences. I'm hoping, Mr. Chairman, that this process will go well and that you will be able to expedite passage of this important piece of legislation, which I think is welcomed by Canadians.
I can tell you there is support for this bill from many ordinary Canadians who are quite concerned about drug abuse. They're concerned that marijuana grow operations and methamphetamine production and trafficking have gotten out of hand. They're concerned about the dangerous occupation of exporting and importing drugs into this country. They're concerned that these activities pose a serious threat to their own safety and to the safety of their communities, and they are right.
Our challenge as legislators is to try to make sure that our criminal law stays current with the developments in our society. Over the last decade, domestic operations related to the production and distribution of marijuana and the synthetic drugs have dramatically increased, resulting in serious problems in many regions of Canada. This has often overwhelmed the capacity of law enforcement agencies to deal with this phenomenon.
These illegal operations pose serious health and public safety hazards to those in and around them. They produce environmental hazards, pose cleanup problems, and endanger the lives and health of communities. Moreover, Mr. Chairman, the organized crime groups and criminal gangs are resorting to increased violence to establish their dominance over the drug trade in various metropolitan regions of this country. Innocent people are being hurt, and in some parts of the country there exists a serious degree of fear amongst citizens.
This is not to say that all drug offenders are necessarily dangerous and that all forms of drug trades are violent. Bill C-15 recognizes this, and this is why what is being proposed in this bill is a focused, targeted, and balanced approach. What this bill does is focus on the more serious drug offences. Overall, the proposals represent a tailored approach to mandatory prison penalties for serious drug offences, and they would operate as follows.
For schedule I drugs, that is for drugs like heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine, the bill proposes a one-year minimum for the majority of the serious drug offences in the presence of certain aggravating factors. Those aggravating factors are: if the offence is committed for the benefit of and at the direction or association with organized crime; the offence involved violence or threat of violence, weapons or the threat of the use of weapons; or if the offence is committed by someone who has been convicted in previous years of a designated drug offence.
If youth are present or the offence occurs in a prison, the minimum is increased to two years. In the case of importing, exporting, and possession for the purpose of exporting, the minimum penalty will be raised to two years if the offence involves more than one kilogram of a schedule I drug. A minimum of two years is provided for a production offence involving a schedule I drug.
The minimum sentence for the production of schedule I drugs increases to three years where aggravating factors relating to health and safety are present. These factors are: if the person used real property that belonged to a third party to commit the offence; if the production constituted a potential security health or safety hazard to children who were in the location where the offence was committed or in the immediate area; or if the production constituted a potential public safety hazard in a residential area or the person placed or set a trap.
For schedule II drugs, marijuana, cannabis resin, etc., the proposed mandatory minimum penalty for trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking, importing or exporting, and possession for the purpose of trafficking is one year if certain aggravating factors, such as violence, recidivism, or organized crime, are present. If factors such as trafficking to youth are present, the minimum is increased to two years.
For the offence of marijuana production, the bill proposes mandatory penalties based on the size of the operation. If the production is between 100 to 200 plants, and if the plants are cultivated for the purposes of trafficking, then the penalty begins at six months. For the production of between 201 and 500 plants, that's one year. Production of more than 500 plants will be two years, and production of cannabis resin for the purposes of trafficking, one year.
The minimum sentence for the production of schedule II drugs increases by 50%, or where any of the aggravating factors relating to health and safety that I have just described are present. The maximum penalty for producing marijuana would be doubled from seven to 14 years.
Amphetamines, as well as the date rape drugs GHB and Rohypnol, would be transferred from schedule III to schedule I, thereby allowing the courts to impose higher maximum penalties for offences involving these drugs.
Lastly, Mr. Chairman, the proposed legislation will allow drug treatment courts to impose a penalty other than the mandatory minimum on an offender who has a previous conviction for a serious drug offence where the offence involves no aggravating factors and where the offender successfully completes a court program.
Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, Bill C-15 seeks to protect the public by tackling the problem of serious drug crimes. It's part of our continued commitment to take steps to protect Canadians and to make our streets and communities safer.
Canadians want a justice system that has clear and strong laws that denounce and deter serious crimes, including serious drug crimes. They want laws that impose penalties that adequately reflect the serious nature of these crimes, and this bill does that.
Thank you very much.
