I think it's fitting that it's the last amendment.
This is about the bill coming into effect. First of all, I want it to be clear to all that the NDP does not want to hold up anything. In fact, this is directly linked to what we were told by Saskatchewan's justice minister and the attorney general of Alberta during the committee’s work.
It was in the Saskatchewan justice minister’s letter of November 20. For the attorney general of Alberta, it was when he testified here on November 4. One of the witnesses mentioned—and I no longer recall which one—that 90% or 95% of this bill, relating to the Victims Bill of Rights, will have to be enforced by the provinces.
To this day, I am still upset that we received no reply from the provinces, which will be the ones most affected by the Victims Bill of Rights. That said, I feel that, once the bill is passed, we must arrange for them to have the time to come up with mechanisms, formulas, and so on so that everyone can enforce the bill of rights in the same way.
The timeframe could have been longer. In my opinion, six months is quite short. Saskatchewan's justice minister seemed to be saying that it was a minimum. I think that it can be done in six months, if we make it known that it is urgent. Three months is extremely short. But these justice ministers are quite well established. They have thought about the matter. They are also in favour of the bill of rights. It is not as if there was resistance on their part and they wanted to hear nothing about it.
As I said previously, the objective is not to hold up the process. The quicker we establish these principles, the more supported the victims will feel. The system has often supported victims, but they have not necessarily felt that to be the case.
In my opinion, a lot of these measures must be put into effect as quickly as possible. However, I do not think that it is too much to allow 180 days, rather than 90 days, before the bill comes into effect.