Mr. Speaker, essentially the hon. member is referring to the Criminal Code. To be more precise, he is referring to a principle about sentencing. We find those principles about sentencing in a section of the Criminal Code. I would just like to say that that does not apply when it is a mandatory minimum penalty.
As well, I would like to invite the member to read the Supreme Court case of Regina v. Gladue. In that case there is a good explanation of that section of the Criminal Code and the reason we are using such criteria in the question of sentencing.