Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, Minister. Thank you for being with us today.
I almost want to start with the same warning as my colleague Mr. Moore gave you. I'm not sure we're going to agree on Bill C‑5, even though, on the merits, the Bloc Québécois has historically disagreed with mandatory minimum penalties and will continue to do so.
We do think it's preferable to allow judges to determine the applicable penalties in most cases, but not all. On the matter of decriminalizing the use of small quantities of drugs, we think that's more a health problem than a legal problem.
So perhaps we could agree on substance, but we have some reservations with Bill C‑5 as drafted.
You told us at the outset that the bill was designed to combat systemic racism. I'd say you're stretching a point. Systemic racism is a major problem that obviously must be addressed, but first we should determine what it is. I'm not sure that systemic racism, in the sense the present government intends, actually exists. However, that's another issue that we won't be addressing today.
To my mind, reducing the applicable penalties for certain crimes in order to prevent racialized individuals from winding up in prison is an odd way to address racism
Having said that, I'm going to ask you some more specific questions because I only have six minutes, and I can't have more than five left. As you'd expect, we won't be able to address the entire issue in five minutes.
However, I want to validate a point with you.
You say that mandatory minimum penalties would remain in force for serious crimes.
Do you think that weapons trafficking is a serious crime or not?
