Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will be voting against this amendment. The purpose of Bill C-25, the Truth in Sentencing Act, is to set the benchmark for pretrial custody, from what we understand to be a standard two to one in most cases and in exceptional cases three to one--to reduce that standard or, to use my friend Mr. Murphy's terminology, benchmark to one to one.
There is still discretion left to the judiciary to satisfy Mr. Comartin's concern, in that in exceptional circumstances—if the sentencing judge believes the pretrial conditions were exceptionally overcrowded, or for some other extraordinary reason—the judiciary still has the discretion to grant a ratio of 1.5 to one. But the purpose of this bill is to reduce the in-practice standard, which we heard many times was two for one, to one for one.
So with all due respect to Mr. Comartin, I think this amendment, if it were to pass, would completely eviscerate the bill and its purposes. Certainly judges who are not deferential to Parliament's attempt to curtail their discretion would continue to routinely grant the“two for one, which they would legally be able to do if Mr. Comartin's amendment were to carry. So I will be voting against it.
Thank you.