Briefly, I agree entirely with Mr. Garrison's intervention. I also echo Mr. Housefather's point about introducing new legal standards that are unknown to Canadian jurisprudence. I suggest, rather, that we stick with the threshold proposed by this bill.
If anything, I would add one more reflection. Rather than be preoccupied with the phrase “reasonable grounds” versus “real possibility”, as my Conservative colleagues have proposed we adopt from the United Kingdom, the real operative change being proposed in this bill is going from reasonable grounds to believe that something was “likely” to “may have”. Going from “likely” to “may have” is the material change.
That is a very conscious, deliberate intent on the part of the government to create a less stringent standard precisely because of the concerns that have been expressed by the current Minister of Justice and Attorney General, by his predecessor and by the community of victims of miscarriages of justice, who suggest that the new standard being proposed will ensure that this issue is properly addressed.
For that reason, I intend to vote against CPC-1.