Thank you, Madam Chair.
The witness Justin Mausz stated the following:
One of my colleagues—the president of our union, as luck would have it—was assaulted by a patient who was under the influence of mushrooms, I believe. It was a drug‑affected young man who made a bad choice. He knocked over my colleague, who suffered a concussion and was unable to work for a little while. This young man made a poor decision, and he deserves to be held accountable for that decision, but not necessarily to spend his life in prison or to have his life ruined.
This is what I have in mind when moving my amendment.
I completely agree with Mr. Caputo and Mr. Moore that the court must consider all the facts and that the assault victim's status as a health care professional constitutes a major factor. However, I repeat, I think that we should give the judge the leeway to decide, in certain cases, not to increase an individual's sentence.
Another section of the Criminal Code states that something can be considered an aggravating factor that increases the severity of the sentence, or a factor that reduces it. I can't remember the word used in this situation. In any event, this section seems sufficient.
That said, in this case, we aren't talking about reducing the sentence, but about the need to increase it. The judge would have no choice but to impose a more serious sentence. This may be the right choice in 90% or 95% of cases. However, in some cases, it won't be the right choice. I think that we should trust the good judgment of our courts and let the judge who hears all the facts make an informed decision.