The fact is, whether you're talking about the YCJA or you're talking about the Criminal Code generally, the long-term protection of the public is a principle that's now built into the YCJA. And I should stop to say, of course, that the CBA section that I'm here representing.... I am a criminal defence lawyer, but there are also crown attorneys who put a lot of time and effort into reviewing this. So it's a joint effort. It's not as though a criminal lawyer's coming before you. I'm coming on behalf of crowns and criminal lawyers. And when, as stakeholders in the justice system, we define “the public”, crown attorneys work in the public interest just as defence lawyers do, and the public interest includes everyone who's part of that justice system. When you're protecting the public, you protect everyone who's a member of the public.
So to undercut some of these principles, you may very well incarcerate people longer, as Mr. Fournel-Laberge said, and what you end up doing, potentially, is you create the image in them that they are who you say they are, and when they're released, because most of these people will be released, they're not better off for it; they're worse off for it. And as a result, we're worse off for it, members who are normal law-abiding citizens of the public.
So that's why a statement like that's made.