To answer your question, I will say that in fact, when the Youth Criminal Justice Act was brought into force, it was promised, in a way, that a broad study of the results would be done after five years, and based on that we would see whether changes had to be made. To our knowledge, though, that broad study was never done in Quebec. There was a very piecemeal consultation. In particular, no study was done to determine whether what was brought into force had improved the situation or made it worse, and what approach should be taken to further improve protection of the public and rehabilitation of young people.
So I am not really certain that by toughening the previous Young Offenders Act, the Youth Criminal Justice Act has provided greater protection for the public. In addition, there is nothing to show that the current amendments will do that.
Mr. Bala has presented some very useful ideas about what experiences in other countries have produced. We have to base our decisions on probative data, and not just on common sense, before legislating. I think this consultation would have and should have taken place before continuing with the process of Bill C-10.