Thank you.
Gentlemen, thank you for being here this afternoon.
I think it's interesting that we're discussing this bill today when, as you probably know, Clifford Olson applied earlier today yet again for parole. He's a person who committed 11 heinous murders--that we know about--and received one life sentence. It seems to me that we as a society need to light a candle for every life that's taken illegally and in these terrible circumstances, such as this case, and we need to respect each victim. This bill may be one way we can do that.
I'm happy to report, by the way, that Mr. Olson has been denied parole again, but I feel for the families of his victims, who had to appear again.
We've heard a lot from our friends on the other side of the room about how Canada has a longer than average incarceration period for murderers anyway, so why do we need to do things like this? I wonder if you could describe for us why you think this legislation is necessary, given that case.