Thank you, Chair.
I think this is my third intervention of the night. I want to share a personal story in this intervention. I think a few colleagues have probably heard it before. I don't know whether my Liberal colleagues have heard it, or my Bloc colleague.
I really enjoyed my time as a Crown prosecutor, but I was seeing things in my small community that, upon reflection, were happening in communities right across the country. I saw first-hand, post-2015, the ever-increasing crime levels.
There was a point in my career when my city of Brantford, the largest city in my riding, with a population of approximately 115,000, hadn't had one homicide on its books in about five years. It was something we were very proud of as a community. However, I saw the ever-increasing tide of organized crime moving from the GTA to southwestern Ontario. Before we knew it, we saw an increase in drugs. We saw an increase in weapons. We saw an increase in human trafficking. We saw an increase in violent stabbings and shootings. Before we knew it, homicides were on the rise.
When I left the Crown's office in 2021, we had 12 homicides on the books. I had carriage of four, as the senior Crown attorney in that office. I came to the conclusion that I was muted as an Ontario public servant in terms of advocating for change. I knew what was wrong. I don't want to get into those issues, because those issues will be properly dealt with whenever we get to the study on Bill C-14.