Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc and I look forward to continuing our hard work in the Standing Committee on the Environment. I hope he will support Bill C-16 as it is well needed.
I want to share with the member that there have been over 500 convictions under the laws amended by this bill in the past five years. A conviction on indictment is only one type of conviction. A prosecution can proceed on indictment or on summary conviction. In fact, most prosecutions under the statutes amended by this bill proceed by way of summary conviction.
It is accurate to say that we have not often proceeded with prosecutions on indictment. The decision to proceed by indictment or summary conviction is a complex decision made by prosecutors and is dependent on the specific facts and circumstances of a particular case.