Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have done a lot of thinking about this particular issue and the minimum mandatory sentences, and I was just going to say that the act we've proposed does allow for less than a minimum mandatory sentence, if the accused, for instance, has drug counselling. First of all, there is an option for that, so if there is an issue with drugs—obviously a bad habit—the court can sentence the accused to something other than the minimum.
Also, most Canadians are shocked when somebody commits a serious crime and they serve their sentence in the community, such as the case I just mentioned with a person who committed incest and sexual assaults on his daughters from the time they were nine years to fifteen years. He was only caught some twenty years later, when he fondled another child who was the granddaughter of his friends.
When that sentence came about I was ashamed of it, first of all, but I think anybody who was in the court, and any of the people who were involved, were quite frankly dismal. They were very shocked and very surprised that a person who could commit that kind of offence could then serve the time in the community.
I think that's something this section goes with, and I think that across the country we clearly need to have consistency in sentencing, to send a clear message to these people. Although I sympathize somewhat with Mr. Harris and Ms. Boivin in relation to leaving it to judges, I think as legislators we clearly have an obligation to protect Canadians first and to have consistency across the board, to let the accused know that if they commit the crime they're going to do serious time.
That's why I would not support the NDP on this particular set of amendments.