Mr. Speaker, my second point has to do with the fact that this legislation imposes a mandatory minimum for the kidnapping of minors. It should be noted that kidnapping is already an offence under the Criminal Code and at committee no witness suggested that judges give light sentences for kidnapping or that somehow the kidnapping of minors occurs precisely because it is not a specific offence in the code.
Indeed, to a greater extent, this bill seeks to criminalize those who are already criminals and seeks to do so by imposing a mandatory minimum, which, as all the evidence has shown, ends up being disproportionate, does not serve as a deterrent and impacts prejudicially on the most vulnerable in all societies. As all the evidence discloses, both here and abroad, this simply is an inappropriate way to deal with this issue or other issues of such matters.