Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments. I find myself in agreement with his opening salvo and, quite frankly, I would be worried if he did agree with everything I said.
With respect to the changes found in the bill, there was a government amendment, as he would know, that was aimed specifically at ensuring that there was not unfair treatment of members of the Canadian Armed Forces or civilian members, which would include reservists. The amendment was based on the advice, testimony and input from members of the committee on the concern that he has alluded to, that in some way a member of the Canadian Armed Forces or a civilian would find themselves receiving treatment that would not be consistent with the treatment they would receive in the civilian criminal law system, for lack of a better description. We were mindful of that and I think that we made reasonable efforts to address those concerns.
The member also referenced the harshness or unfairness that could ensue. However, I would reference the Supreme Court decision in Généreux. The Supreme Court considered this fact and basically affirmed what we had heard from previous decisions and examinations of the military justice system, which reaffirmed the necessity, constitutionality and importance of a separate, unique military justice system. It went on to say that because of the unique service provided by the Canadian Forces and the need for discipline first and foremost, this separate justice system should in fact be delineated.
My colleague also referenced the Somalia inquiry, which was a dark period of Canadian Forces history, let alone its justice system. However, I would remind him, as the record will show, that it was the Liberal government that shut down that inquiry before it had the opportunity to properly deliberate and come forth with recommendations. Therefore, there is a little bit of hypocrisy behind that question.
However, in this bill there are significant improvements. There were 88 recommendations, the majority of which will now be included in this legislation. Therefore, it is time to move forward with this bill. It is time to give the members of the Canadian Armed Forces this modern system that includes such things as victim impact statements and adopts many of the improvements that we have seen in the criminal justice system in recent years.