Randall Garrison at the Public Safety and National Security Committee

I think this is a technical point, but it may be an important one.

The amendment in English says, “a negative impact on the safety of the public”, and in French it says “la sécurité publique”. Those are slightly different. Also, in English it's slightly different to say “on the safety of the public” from saying “on public safety”.

I believe the intent of this was the broader term “public safety”, which would include the safety of the offender or of public servants. When you say “safety of the public”, it's not quite the same thing. In French the amendment uses the broader term; in English it uses what can be interpreted as the narrower term.

So I would propose a subamendment to the wording in proposed paragraph 6(2)(c), to strike, after “would not have a negative impact”, the words “on the safety of the public” and substitute “on public safety”.