Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's the same as the previous amendments. This time it's extortion with a firearm. Mandatory minimum sentences should not be abolished for these very serious crimes. This would again send a startling message to the public, who are concerned about the rise in violent gun crime. It would be like telling them that these crimes aren't that serious because we are abolishing minimum sentences. I don't want to be sensationalist, but it would be almost disastrous for social peace.
I think we need to maintain the mandatory minimum for these serious crimes. This would achieve the objective that government members have set for themselves, which is to allow the courts to waive minimum sentences in exceptional circumstances. It would add the possibility for the court to waive the minimum sentence as long as it can be established that there are exceptional circumstances justifying that decision. Otherwise, the mandatory minimum would remain.