Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question. It is an important one.
The hon. member has stated that if one looks at the existing organized crime provisions in fact in 1997 amendments to the provisions introduced much tougher sentences. In fact we have the prospect of imposing up to 14 years in the form of consecutive sentencing.
I cannot comment upon provincial prosecutorial decisions in relation to plea bargaining. There is a former prosecutor here this evening in the form of the justice critic for the Progressive Conservative Party. He probably would be much better placed to talk about what goes into a decision being made by a provincial prosecutor and the provincial attorney general in terms of pleading out or agreeing to a plea bargain in a given situation.
What I want to do is acknowledge the fact, as the hon. member has, that the sections are there. We need to think about why plea bargaining takes place in the justice system. We all know why, but it is frustrating for all of us on occasion to see that these sections are not tested, that the consecutive sentencing provisions are not used or the courts are not given the opportunity to use them because a plea bargain arrangement has been entered into.
The hon. member has raised a serious matter. It is one which I think I should take up with my provincial and territorial colleagues because they are responsible for the prosecution of these sections. We are not. Provincial attorneys general guard that jurisdiction jealously, as the hon. member knows. Therefore I will take the hon. member's legitimate and sincere concern and find out from some of my provincial colleagues why they made the decisions they did in the given cases to agree to plea bargains.