It was in the late 1990s. The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles does not age, so this is why my dates are a little off.
All this to say that the witness protection program was improved and the $1,000 bill was eliminated. Also—and this is very important—warrants for electronic surveillance, which used to be valid for 30 days, and then 90 days, may now be valid for up to a year. However, the hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles was well advised, because there is a tool missing in the criminal process, the trials and the fight against organized crime, and not just biker gangs. That tool is the reversal of the burden of proof.
We want to add the reversal of the burden of proof, once an accused has been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, as provided by the law.
The hon. member who spoke before me could certainly have referred to the Collins case. A number of rulings were made on what jeopardizes the fairness of a trial. It is clear that the presumption of innocence must be protected, otherwise the administration of justice could be flawed and even lead to the rejection of the evidence gathered by police forces, under subsection 24(2).
The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles does not want that. He wants the conviction to be solidly established. What he is proposing is that once the accused is found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the Crown would make the necessary demonstration regarding offence-related assets.
Let us take the example of an individual accused of second degree murder. A trial is held, all the rules guaranteeing a fair trial are respected and a guilty verdict is rendered once both sides have made their case. At that point, how the assets were obtained must be established. It is only then that the reversal of the burden of proof will occur.
This will be an extremely useful tool. Law enforcement organizations should be very pleased with today's debate.
I will not hesitate to admit that I had two mentors in my process of learning about organized crime. In 1995 I was a thirty-something rookie with two years in the House. I had never had any interest in organized crime. Obviously, I had never followed the issues addressed by the inquiry into organized crime, CECO, and all that.
When I did need to know about such matters, I had two mentors. The first was Mr. Ouellette of the SQ, who is a leading expert and now trains others. He told me what a ridiculous situation ensued when people were seen to be involved in transnational drug trafficking, and were multimillionaires with mansions, yachts and goodness knows what else, in short living the good life yet claiming incomes of $8,00, $9,000 or $10,000.
Hon. members will understand the importance of allowing the accused to prove how the crime-related assets have been acquired, once an offence has been proven. This will, understandably, be of great use for investigations, court proceedings and even determining the main offence.
That is what we are dealing with today. I would not like people to think at the end of the day that there is any threat to constitutional guarantees. No one in this House, least of all the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, who is a lawyer, wants to do anything to challenge principles as solidly entrenched as the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
This will be a balance added to what was concluded by the Supreme Court in 1991 with its judgment in Stinchcombe. This has resulted in imbalances. There were no rules prior to Stinchcombe, and after Stinchcombe, all evidence had to be revealed. This means that a police officer had to produce during the trial the notes he had written on a notepad. The department had to disclose the entire body of evidence, whether it tended to accuse or exonerate, and whether it was closely or very tenuously linked to the offence and the charge.
Hon. members will understand how hard it was for public defenders to comply with Stinchcombe, particularly in cases involving shadowing or informants, or in lengthy investigations lasting three, four or five years.
I hope that all the members in this House will adopt this measure, which is constitutional, balanced, effective and intelligent.