Mr. Speaker, I have a few questions for my hon. colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment, including this one in particular.
As we know, Bill C-16 identifies a number of aggravating factors for the purposes of sentencing. A number of those aggravating factors are listed in the bill, including the following: the offender failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the offence, despite having the financial means to do so.
Why did the government decide to list a number of factors for the purposes of sentencing? Why did the government insist on defining what it considers aggravating factors?