Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Minister.
Thank you, officials, for your attendance today.
Minister, the position and messaging from you and various other ministers, including Prime Minister Carney and former prime minister Justin Trudeau, have not aged very well. In 2017, you appeared before the FEWO committee on December 7, and you said as follows:
On the issue of mandatory minimums and conditional sentencing restrictions...I don't know how we think we are better positioned in Ottawa, with no facts or evidence, to decide what a sentence should be than a judge who is aware of the facts and evidence in a particular case.
Minister, also in 2016, you criticized mandatory minimum sentences by suggesting that Ottawa legislators were not better positioned than judges with the facts before them.
Now you are Minister of Justice here in this 45th Parliament and defending a bill that aims to restore mandatory minimum penalties. What has changed?