The decision I will talk about first involves Mr. Coffin, in the sponsorship scandal. In fact it was discussed in the House in the debate on first and second reading. Coffin, as you know, had been sentenced to a term in the community at trial, and the Quebec Court of Appeal order an 18-month sentence for a fraud of $1.5 million committed against the government. Yes, there are sentences of less than two years for very large frauds.
On your question about restitution, you have to understand that this is a matter of the division of powers. Ordinarily, Quebec is the first to fiercely defend that. The authority to determine questions of damages has to be left to the civil courts. It is not up to a criminal court to deal with those matters. So the main limit, in terms of restitution, is net damage. If I were a victim, I would much prefer to go before a civil court and have several days to prove the damage suffered than to go before a criminal court that will deal with the matter expeditiously in a few minutes because there is a whole list of other cases waiting. Restitution orders under the Criminal Code are not limited to very clear cases only, and it is more difficult in the case of complex frauds.