Mr. Chairman, as I said earlier in my speech, I would like to propose an amendment to clause 1.
I move:
That Bill C-82, in clause 1, be amended by substituting, at line 16, page 3, the following:
“offence and liable to imprisonment not exceeding 14 years if”.
With this amendment, line 16, which currently reads “offence and liable to imprisonment for life if”, would be replaced by “offence and liable to imprisonment not exceeding 14 years if”.
As I said earlier, this would mean parity between drunk driving causing death and a hit and run accident when an individual is killed. This is all in keeping with the unanimous report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
The report indicated that an effort was being made to find similar sentences and penalties, given that the death of a person is the death of a person, whether it is caused by impaired driving or results from a hit and run.