Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
While I appreciate the intent of Mr. Fortin's possible subamendment, I think we're getting into an area here where the bill as originally drafted already describes these as exceptions. I think we're also hearing a contradiction from my Conservative colleagues, who tell me that the justice system gets almost everything right—I agree with them on that—but then suddenly we'll have a flood of wrongful appeals. I just don't see how those two things operate at the same time.
My concern with Mr. Fortin's possible subamendment is that we'll get into unintended consequences by adding that wording. The bill as drafted allows the commission to say they're not looking at a case because the appeal period hasn't expired, and you have every ability to appeal. That's certainly allowed by the wording of this bill as it stands. I don't think there's any need for us to fetter the commission by saying, “Absolutely you can't do that.” It's already there. We're only dealing with exceptional circumstances, as we just heard from our expert witness.
Like Mr. Mendicino, I would urge people to always keep in mind the victims of crime, but we've also had some very dramatic outstanding cases of families who are trying to make sure their loved ones are released from jail because they've been wrongfully convicted. That's exactly what this commission is designed for. The current process that goes through the minister has been found by everyone involved, including the ministers who have dealt with it, to be too restrictive and to be too subject to political timetables, I would say. Rather than whims, it's timetables. Ministers are busy people. How many cases can they deal with? Very few people have gotten through the existing system when there's clearly a miscarriage of justice.
I would hope that as LIB-1 is now drafted, it does take into account those very few cases where the commission will be given the ability to examine the applications. It does not require them to do so. The commission will very clearly establish within the legal community what those parameters are.
I would urge us to not delay this further.
Thank you.