I don't think there's any question about it.
I did have an interesting question. Somebody asked me when I introduced the bill whether I was saying that somebody who was going to commit first degree murder might not do so because they would now no longer be eligible to apply for that faint hope after 15 years. I said it would be very difficult for anybody to try to figure out, for starters, what could be in the mind of somebody who would commit premeditated first degree murder. But the point I made was that I know there will be less victimization in this country. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the individual who has committed this heinous crime will spend 25 years before federal parole eligibility. It will be a blessing to the families who have to go through this, or have had to go through this process that has been described here, not to have to do this again, because they continuously get victimized.
But you're right: we want people to have confidence in the criminal justice system. We're trying to get rid of the two-for-one credit; that's just down the hall. That's part of it. I think that will increase people's confidence in the system they have in this country, and this is another part of that. When people have confidence in the system, it works to everybody's advantage.
So yes, we want to better protect Canadians; we want to reduce victimization; we want people to have confidence in the criminal justice system of this country. We want to be fair to those individuals who are being charged under our criminal justice system. They have to have rights—of course they do—and we want them to be treated fairly, but all as one part of it. You can't support one at the expense of another.
As Mr. Norlock and others have been saying, we have to make sure that victims are heard, that they are part of the process, and that their interests are taken into consideration. We can't ignore them, because then everybody loses. But you're right: this is part of our overall package to make Canadian society a safer one in which to live, and part of making it safer is to make sure that people have confidence in the system. That's what we are about.