Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and this is through you to Mr. Cotler.
You've asked some good questions. You're right. Those questions were raised during the second reading debate.
With respect to churches and items of culture, no, this bill does not deal with those items. Perhaps other members of Parliament want to introduce an amendment with respect to churches, items of culture. You could get into historical items. My colleague over here raised the issue of 1812, which may apply to this section. It may not. That would depend on what has been damaged.
My focus is strictly on cenotaphs because of the observation I've had across this country, for incredible reasons. I don't know why this is done across this country. Obviously, this leads to your second question, the issue of mandatory minimums.
I appreciate that. The Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party, in recent examples, are opposed to that type of penalty. I understand that philosophy. I do not...particularly in this particular section.
This may not be the time to debate it, but quite frankly, the issues we have now.... The minimum penalty in the proposed bill is $1,000. If it gets more serious, it could be more than $1,000. As well, it doesn't preclude a judge from saying, “Well, in addition to that penalty, you're going to have to work with the Legion. You're going to have to do community service with the Legion.” There's nothing to preclude a judge from doing that.
The whole purpose of this bill, Mr. Cotler, is that the process we have now is not working. It has not been working even in 2011 when we had examples of destruction of cenotaphs right across this country. We can't continue to allow the simple mischief penalties to allow for those things.