I thank the hon. member for the question. By tradition there is a separate military justice system because of the nature of dealing with matters swiftly.
As I emphasized in my remarks, discipline and cohesion are very important because not only can what some of our soldiers do threaten their own lives, it can threaten the lives of other people who are part of the team they are working with. It is important to be able to deal with these matters for that reason very swiftly. In some cases they may be abroad at the time. They may be involved in war or peacekeeping in other parts of the world and so it is necessary to have a portable system, have a system that can operate in a very swift fashion in terms of the military justice system.
The Supreme Court of Canada has indicated there is justification and a need for a separate military justice system. What we are attempting to do is to bring it as close as possible to the civilian system so that indeed the charter and the questions of fairness and equity within the judicial system will be there for the soldiers as much as they are for the civilians.