Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would oppose the amendment for the following two reasons. One is that we were told by the Correctional Service of Canada that they remind each offender to whom the faint hope clause might apply one year prior to the date. So at year 14 they are sent an official notice reminding them they have a year to apply to be released under the faint hope provision. Then they lead them step by step through the process at the taxpayer's expense.
We also heard in the Senate committee from the Correctional Service of Canada officials that they will be adjusting their internal procedures to reflect the new legislation. In other words, they'll now be informing the offenders 90 days earlier, so it will be a year and 90 days prior. So I guess it will be at thirteen and three-quarter years into their sentence that they'll be reminded they have a year and three months to file their application for early release.
In my view, that's a sufficient period of time to prepare their application. I can't imagine a first-degree murderer sitting in prison for 14 years and not thinking about the possibility of release. It seems to me they have plenty of time to do that.
The second reason is simply that making any significant amendments to this bill will require this bill to go back to the Senate for approval of the changes, and that will result in a significant delay. We think this is timely legislation that needs to be put into place as soon as possible.
Every day or every week, unfortunately, in this country, people are murdered. I don't want any of those offenders to have the right going forward to make this application, because I think it's not in the interests of Canada and it's not in the interests of victims and it's not in the interests of maintaining the faith of the Canadian people in our criminal justice system.
For those reasons, I will be opposing the amendment.