moved for leave to introduce Bill C-247, an act to amend the Criminal Code (conditional sentencing)
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have been living with conditional sentencing for about five years now. During that time the courts have handed down thousands of conditional sentences. This form of sentencing should be intended for relatively minor offences, however, the law does not outline where it may be used. As a result, many criminals received light sentences for crimes as serious as sexual assault, manslaughter, drunk driving and drug trafficking.
The B.C. Court of Appeal stated, in a decision regarding conditional sentencing, “If Parliament had intended to exclude certain offences from consideration, it should have done so in clear language”.
My bill clearly lays out circumstances where conditional sentencing may not be used by the courts for instances of such serious criminal offences.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)