Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all of the witnesses for their testimony.
I want to say, first off, Mr. Kennah, that you made me, as a former mayor, a little nervous when you started talking about faulty sewage systems. I was ready to understand that it was a private septic well, and not part of the system that I think I left intact.
To tie that together, in this bill we see some good and necessary parts, and we see some parts that are quite questionable. I want to zero in on some of those elements that were on the bubble, as it were, so that the whole bill doesn't go down the drain, Mr. Kennah. That goes to two points: the record keeping on the use of extrajudicial sanctions and the lifting or not of the publicity ban.
I want to say to the witnesses that we have a significant philosophical difference on the big issues, like denunciation and deterrence. So don't think for a minute that we're not cognizant of that. But I want to zero in on some of the things. If you compare the position of Professor Bala with the position of Chief Weighill, there may be some common ground.
First of all, on record keeping, the quick question I have, Chief, is about the fact that there is some discretion currently in departments across the country about whether or not to keep records in cases where, I suppose, you must think they would be useful for the protection of society. The bill as proposed suggests this should be mandatory. Do you see that as an improvement? When is that discretion used to keep or not keep records, and why would it be necessary to make it mandatory?