Yes. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for sharing your time here today with us at the justice committee.
Minister, you mentioned Bill C-5, which eliminated mandatory jail time for what I would categorize as serious firearms offences, including serious offences around the trafficking, importation and production of schedule I and schedule II drugs.
I'll also mention Bill C-75, which was brought in by your government and which instituted the principle of restraint, meaning that individuals facing pretrial custody are given the least onerous provisions possible. That has been interpreted very broadly, and now we see what I would categorize as a revolving door to our justice system and an increase in the number of recidivists who are being caught by police and committing subsequent crimes even while out on release.
Just last week, I was reading that the Winnipeg Police Service has announced that the city is experiencing the highest level of violent crime in over a decade. They have reported that violent crime was up 25% last year compared to 2021, and another 17% over the five-year average—all types of crime, particularly violent crime. There's a significant uptick in Winnipeg.
I would look at that as a signal that we're doing some things wrong, and that we have to address violent repeat offenders and we have to address recidivism. I put it to you: How do you take these stats coming out of Winnipeg, and are you concerned? We know that we've had a 32% increase in violent crime over the last eight years. Do you feel that when Juristat and StatsCan publish their findings later this year we're going to see an uptick across the country in violent crime, as is being seen in Winnipeg?