To go back to some of the minister's remarks, he noted, for example, that judges will have discretion in the cases in terms of assessing the appropriate sentence to impose in that case on the offender before the court in all of the circumstances. Whether it's a period of imprisonment and/or a fine, if the judge decides not to impose a fine, maybe there's another sentence. That's one way to address it directly. In the instance where there isn't a fine, the bill would require a flat amount to be paid, which is nominal but, as you say, could nonetheless have an impact for certain accused before the court. With those processes to deal with that, whether it is in a province that has a fine option program, which is the majority, or in the few that do not, obviously again there is a recognition that it could have an impact and there are measures available within those provinces to deal with it.
We've undertaken to see if we can provide some information that might be readily available to the department. It may be that the committee may wish to consider hearing from a witness from one of those provinces more directly to speak to that, but we'll see what we can provide.