Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, for the witnesses' benefit, addressing what Mr. Harris was saying, the format of this whole meeting—the five-minute length of the speeches—was agreed upon in pre-meetings. So you're not being penalized with this. This is the same format for everyone, agreed upon by all the parties, and it's regrettable there isn't more time, perhaps, but this is the format that was unanimously agreed upon.
My question is to Mr. Chaffe. Certainly I understand you're looking at this likely from a systemic impact. We had Vince Westwick, who is the counsel for the Ottawa Police, and Chief Dale McFee, who is the president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, testify earlier. In essence what they were saying...in the field the same offenders keep going through the system. In a sense what they're saying is that this act isn't going to magically create more criminals in Canada, but the same offenders keep going through the system, with perhaps less plea bargaining, as you've indicated.
I trust you agree that if the same offenders are going through the system, placing them in jail—although you bear the burden of getting them there—makes the streets and communities much safer.
Of course, we've had the mandate from the Canadian public to make the streets more safe. If given the proper resources, you don't find anything in this Bill C-10 objectionable, and you're going to do your job as a good crown.