Very well. Thank you very much.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here.
Let’s talk about deterrence. If I am not mistaken, that is one of the objectives of the bill. Let me tell you that deterrence was important to the witnesses we were able to hear from. They truly believed that a minimum sentence has a deterrent effect. You have already said that, in various circumstances, in other countries or situations, it has been proven that it does not have a deterrent effect. That seems to be very clear.
In addition, Michel Surprenant came here two weeks ago. He is the vice-president of the Association of the Families of Persons Assassinated or Disappeared. A great deal of his testimony and examples focused on sexual predators who might kidnap children. We can imagine that those would be among the many cases that fall under this section. Mr. Surprenant was convinced of what he was saying and he seemed to rely on studies according to which those sexual predators followed their instinct, first and foremost. They were not necessarily thinking about the crime, although he described them as being clever in capturing their prey.
In this case, once again, I think minimum sentences would have no effect whatsoever, no deterrent effect.