Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate all of you for being here today. You've all brought your perspective to this bill.
I want to ask a question of Mr. Russomanno.
It's no secret that we've raised some concerns about the legislation. You mentioned your involvement in the past when the previous government was bringing in some changes to conditional sentencing as well as mandatory minimum penalties. In spite of what the talking points are, which is that this bill is about getting rid of Harper-era mandatory minimums, I can tell you that one of the great ironies of this bill is that for the minimums being contemplated to be removed by this legislation, some go back to the seventies and they certainly go back to the nineties. Many of the mandatory minimum penalties, particularly some escalating ones around gun violence, that came in under a previous Conservative government, the government has chosen to leave in.
Do you feel that there is any place for mandatory minimum penalties in the Criminal Code at all? We know there's a mandatory minimum penalty for first-degree murder, for example. We know that some serious firearms offences have mandatory minimum penalties that are not touched by this legislation.
From that starting point, do you believe there's any role for mandatory minimum penalties?