Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Sometimes I sit here and listen to comments that are made.
You know, I feel the same way you do, Mr. Marston, but perhaps on the opposite side. I shake my head a little bit at comments like “prisons are just breeding grounds for new criminals”. Well, to some extent maybe they are, but if that were the case, then there should be a 100% recidivism rate, and quite frankly there isn't. It's not always the case that incarceration turns a person toward a life of crime.
You made a comment on reverse onus and how that's terrible.
Mr. Gill, one of the things in your bill is that with respect to release pending trial, the person would now have a reverse onus; they would have to prove that they should be allowed out in the community. To me that seems like a good thing, because somebody who is recruiting someone into a gang maybe should have to prove why they should be back in society, where they'll likely try to recruit more people.
Perhaps you could comment on why you think that might be a good aspect of this bill.