Thank you, Chair.
I want to speak briefly to Mr. Cotler's amendment as well. I think Mr. Woodworth has it wrong. He referred to the Soviet Union putting people in mental hospitals who should be in prison, or as a substitute for putting them in prison.
What I think Mr. Cotler's amendment deals with is suggesting that we'd be putting them in prison instead of having them receive treatment for a mental health issue, or attend a mental health treatment program instead of being put in prison, if the reason for being before the law has to do with mental health issues.
Yes, I agree that obviously he has put his finger on something very important that this bill doesn't pay very much attention to. I agree with Mr. Woodworth that this ought to be the subject of a great deal of parliamentary attention. I hope we will see that in terms of mental health receiving better support from the Government of Canada and mental health treatments getting the attention they deserve. Perhaps that should be the subject of much negotiation in terms of the new health accord.
Be that as it may, I think here we're talking about adding additional rationale for delaying sentencing rather than imposing this mandatory minimum in order to receive treatment for mental health issues or to attend a mental health treatment program approved by the Attorney General. I don't see how that interferes with the operations of the prisons or how it “psychiatrizes” prison treatment. It actually allows the delay of sentencing in order for someone to receive treatment for a mental health issue, as opposed to ending up in jail where they might not get any treatment at all.