Madam Speaker, I thank the member opposite for outlining why the Conservatives think it is important to move forward with the bill. Of course it flies in the face of any kind of evidence that is emerging from countries, like the United States, that have taken this approach and are now backtracking because it simply did not work.
The member talked about crime prevention. I want to reference the University of Ottawa's Institute for the Prevention of Crime, which has posed a number of questions and I wonder if the member would be prepared to answer them. The institute talks about evidence-based approaches and it has four questions. I am sure the member will not have time to answer all of them but we should consider these four questions in the House. If we had full time for debate we would have done this. The questions are:
What is the evidence on proven or promising practices in this area?
What are the gaps in our knowledge (research priorities)?
How will the initiative be monitored and evaluated?
How will resistance to change be addressed?
I wonder if the member could address those questions in the context of crime prevention and the measures he has indicated that the government is prepared to take.