To my mind, increasing the surcharge is a positive measure. The only problem, as I said, lies in how the money is used.
In the course of our work, we learned that judges and crown prosecutors were refusing to impose the victim surcharge because they had no assurance that the money was really going to victims because it was actually ending up in the province's consolidated revenue fund. That information came from an Ontario study done in 1994. That's a pretty big problem.
The other consideration is people's ability to pay. I want to thank my colleague Mr. Seeback for pointing out the fact that certain people subject to the fine would not be able to pay.
Do you not think the bill's intent to limit or remove judges' discretion could cause a lot more problems than it solves?