Mr. Chair, we don't agree with that analysis. The nature of military operations and the imperative that military justice has to strengthen discipline and allow for the operational capacity to do difficult things under difficult circumstances doesn't allow us to detail different categories of sentences for different categories of commands not followed. That is why this provision is at the very core of the military justice system, not just our military justice system but those of our allies as well.
I think we're much more inclined to agree with Mr. McKay—and let me repeat that, Mr. Chair, we agree with the Liberal Party of Canada representative on this committee—that this provision can represent a very serious spectrum of criminal acts that need to be punished accordingly and where there needs to be flexibility in the sentencing. Of course in wartime, in combat, the gravity of the offence can be much greater than the same offence in peacetime because it can have such an effect on people's lives.
This concept of a lawful command is really central to our system of justice. That is why we cannot limit sentences that go as far as life imprisonment, but that are imposed solely in exceptional circumstances in which the situation is very serious.
Mr. Larose discussed the need to retain subsection 2(2) and to ensure that none of these offences can attract a criminal record. We are not prepared to accept that either because there are various serious crimes such as assault, for example. Threats of assault and attempted murder may be considered this way by the military justice system. This must reflect what goes on in the civilian system, where they will attract a criminal record because this class of crime involves a serious degree of violence.