Mr. Speaker, I did practise law for 18 years, and my understanding is that criminal law does require mens rea, that the intent is necessary for many of the offences under the criminal code. As I explained earlier, we proposed three ways to broaden the directing minds, which was part of the old corporate liability, by applying mens rea or intent to senior officers. We have gone through those things.
I understand that what in fact had been proposed earlier was not the criminal intent, which is really the norm for criminal acts.
There is another thing which I think it is important to say, and I said it earlier in my speech as well. We must remember that to be convicted of a criminal offence both for a corporation and an individual is a very grave offence. We have to balance the intent that it is a criminal act to ensure that in fact we are not convicting a senior officer who may just be there as a senior officer. We have to look at these things.
I also urge the member opposite to bring these issues to committee. We will have the opportunity to look at the various ways and if it is deemed more appropriate to use the method that is being proposed, that is something the committee can consider. However, it is important to remember that we are talking about the criminal law here and what threshold is required for offences.
That is my understanding of mens rea and criminal intent.