Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Sterling, culturally it's hard for me to go against the instincts of the late, great Tip O'Neill, but from what you've said, does it seem that one of the major flaws with the mandatory minimum system as applied in the United States was that the mandatory minimums were for such a long period?
I remember that three and a half years ago, when we started this whole debate about mandatory minimums, the opposition was successful in ratcheting down some proposed mandatory minimums. Frankly, compared to those of the United States, our mandatory minimums, which had been passed here before the Conservative government got in, are far less than the minimums you mentioned in some cases of seven and ten years. Would you say that's one of the major flaws, that you're keeping many more offenders in for a far longer time, costing all that much more?