Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that proportionality is a part of every sentence that is handed down in the country. The Criminal Code, as does the Youth Criminal Justice Act, gives a wide range to judges to impose a sentence that is appropriate in each occasion.
However, we had to act in light of a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, in 2006, with respect to the Youth Criminal Justice Act. It made it very clear that deterrence and denunciation were not part of the principles that a judge could take into consideration when sentencing a young person. Therefore, we have moved to remedy that and we have put that in the legislation.
Again, there is a wide range of principles and considerations that a judge can take into consideration to ensure that the appropriate sentence is handed down for that young person.
We are keenly aware as well that we cannot just sentence individuals in our system. We have to try to divert them and give them opportunities not to get involved in problems with the law in the first place. Therefore, ours is a comprehensive package, both for youth and for drug related problems. As we know, they can be interrelated, but ours has to be a comprehensive and a fair approach.