Here's how I see things. When I mentioned the decision in the Bedford case, I simply wanted to argue that our whole debate on section 1 may have been pointless, since we don't know what position the Supreme Court will adopt. The amendment proposed in Bill C-452 does not affect the correction the trial judge asked parliamentarians to make. It was not related to types of sentences, but to the offence itself. I think that's more or less applicable.
However, I am always somewhat reluctant to amend a provision that has already been submitted to the courts. We may want to err on the side of caution and wait for the Supreme Court's ruling. I have no problem with that approach. However, I fully support the proposed amendment to section 212 of the Criminal Code concerning sentence types, provided that it is considered constitutional.
It's simply a matter of delaying the process. Mr. Seeback is right. If the Supreme Court concludes that those provisions are entirely constitutional, the issue will come before us again and we will have to consider it once more. Perhaps someone else could propose an amendment. Even the government could do that, since it really seemed to support this bill.