Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to welcome Justice Major. It's a pleasure to have you with us, Justice.
You mentioned the prospective constitutional hurdle of cruel and unusual punishment, though it might be safe under section 1. Now, if this were a government bill, it would be subject to the requirement of vetting under section 4 of the Department of Justice Act, whereby the Minister of Justice would have to undertake to show that such legislation is not inconsistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But as this is a private member's bill, it's not subject to that kind of vetting.
We are witnessing an increasing pattern of private members' bills being taken over by the government—becoming government bills, but without the obligation in cases of prospectively suspect provisions of the responsibility for vetting those provisions.