Thanks for the question.
It's difficult to say, in the abstract, whether it would be charter-compliant. I would point the committee to the Hilbach decision, which was discussed last week. There, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld two mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment for robbery with a firearm. That would be, I think, instructive regarding any charter challenge in this space, given that the offences are similar in terms of their seriousness and that they would have some similar penalties.
Certainly, on the delays issue—to the second part of your question—that was one of the objectives that animated Bill C-5 at the time, in addition to some of the objectives Mr. Brock spoke about already. There was a significant concern about justice system delays. There had been a fairly significant number of charter challenges. There was a disincentive for individuals to plead guilty, and therefore their trials would continue. One expects those kinds of considerations to continue to be relevant in any offence where there are mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment.