I listened to your speech. We are studying this bill and we also considered Bill S-6. These two bills have to do with crimes like murder. According to me, there are two types of victims. I will be careful in my choice of words, so people on the other side do not start climbing the walls.
There are some victims, like Olson's victims, that you referred to. In my opinion, these victims are scarred for life. People point to Olson, but as I said several years ago, that man will never get parole. He is like Paul Bernardo, in Ontario. However, there are other types of murderers.
Earlier on, my colleague Mr. Rathgeber, or Mr. Woodworth, said that there were 424 people guilty of multiple murders. Personally I am concerned about other murderers. Let me give you an example. It could be a father who kills his wife and two children. In prison, there are far more cases like that than like Olson's. One thing I found worrisome in this bill is that there is not much of a distinction drawn between the two. In fact, there is none.
I will try to be tactful and politically correct. I believe there are two types of victims. The rest of the family of the father who killed his wife and two children will also have to live with that. It will take a great deal of time before that scar heals.
I can remember a client. Her husband, two children and she had made a suicide pact. All four were to die, but the woman survived. She was accused and convicted of those three murders. I believe prison is not the place for her. She is far more in need of psychiatric counselling than that.
I realize that I have gone on a bit of a detour, but do you believe that the discretionary power provided under section 745.51 would allow for this option? Would it not be advisable to increase this discretionary power, because, pursuant to section 745.51, the judge can use this power, otherwise the sentence is 25 years minimum?
Perhaps we should determine whether, under Section 745.2, we should not grant further discretionary power to judges. I am in favour of criminals serving over 25 years before being eligible for parole, in some cases. Judges need some discretionary power. Do you not believe that would be acceptable to victims?