Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all of our witnesses today for coming and sharing your expertise with this august body.
I want to focus on a few things, particularly Minister Swan's comments.
Minister, obviously this bill relates to creating new indictable Criminal Code offences that prohibit the recruitment, solicitation, encouragement, or invitation of another person to join a criminal organization for the purpose of enhancing that criminal organization to facilitate or commit indictable offences.
My colleague Mr. Seeback has also included an amendment for consideration in terms of coercion. This offence would then be punishable by a maximum of five years' imprisonment, with a mandatory minimum penalty of imprisonment of six months if the individual who's recruited is under the age of 18.
How do you think this mandatory minimum penalty will help deter gangs that prey on the most vulnerable in our society?