Well, I'm not a lawyer, and everybody knows that. I'm a contractor, and it's interesting to me to listen to the debate today and to hear some of the comments, such as the one Mr. Kania made, about the philosophical differences and the fact that we want to just keep convicts in prisons abroad, which is so far from the truth that it's ridiculous to contemplate.
It's interesting to listen to the experts who have come to tell us about the court system that has rendered decisions and about using case law as the guiding principle for the enhancements to the minister's ability to handle all types of situations. Taking partisanship right out of it, we should listen to what that case law is and what those decisions are, because they're done impartially. They're done by judges who are not able--and to my knowledge are not supposed to--to take any particular philosophical ideological point of view, but who are to listen to the evidence and decide whether it's in the best interests of our country to allow someone to come back or not. So we have case law.
As I look at this issue today, I can see that the debate is definitely along ideological partisan lines, perhaps for the purposes of political gain—by the coalition, perhaps--but as I weigh how I will vote on this issue, I'm listening to the people who have had the experience. We have someone at the end of the table who has served since 1985 and knows the decisions that have been made. We just had evidence provided to us of the most recent decisions, those just made: that the impartial courts turned down I think two applications and approved three on judicial review.
So what we're talking about here is not concentrating discretion into one person's hands and having him or her administer: it's giving them the enhanced tools to be able to do their job better. It would be like me, in my business, saying that I'm not going to buy the skillsaw and we're going to let everybody still use the handsaw.
I will be supporting this legislation as written, because I've listened to all sides and everybody has put their partisan spin on this. To me, the case law, the experience, the reasons for wanting this, and the enhancements in order to do a better job as the minister and the ministry, all make good common sense.