Mr. Spratt, at present, mothers are afraid to send their children to school because there are guns around. Bill C‑5 provides for the removal of mandatory minimum sentences even for armed robberies.
I understand what you are telling me. Between lawyers, we can discuss many things. However, you, I, and everyone else here works for the population. You are telling the public that it has been decided that a robbery committed with a firearm is now less serious than it used to be and that we are removing the minimum sentences for these kinds of crimes.
You can explain that there are problems with minimum sentences and that the sentence would be the same anyway, but the message may not be the one we want to send.
Don't you think the timing is wrong?
Some minimum sentences can be abolished now without a problem, but in the case of serious crimes, for example robbery with a firearm, don't you think we should keep mandatory minimum sentences?