Mr. Speaker, in the first place we do not propose to repeal the section, as my hon. friend and his party would do, because we believe along with the vast majority of moderate Canadians that there is room for this in the law. We are not prepared to say that of the hundreds of people serving life for murder none of them should ever get the opportunity to come before a jury of peers from the community to ask for a shortening of the period.
We have proposed a significant tightening of the section. We said for all those in prison now serving time for murder there will be a tight screening mechanism before they ever get to a jury. That screening mechanism means that only those cases where a judge says there is a reasonable prospect of success under the test in section 745 will ever get to a jury. We have also said that any such jury would have to be unanimous in shortening the period of parole and eligibility, whereas now it is only two-thirds.
I suggest these measures will strengthen section 745, will improve it and will ensure that it is those exceptional cases of deserving applicants who get the remedy provided for.