Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Kootenay—Columbia for his speech.
I find a number of aspects of Bill C-35 very disturbing, including the mandatory minimum sentences.
The hon. member probably knows—if not, I will tell him—that the Department of Justice considers mandatory minimum sentences to have no demonstrable deterrent effect.
Considering the long list of cases of assault against service dogs that he presented, why is he defending the mandatory minimum sentence aspect of the bill, when it will have no effect on preventing attacks on service animals?