Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles for giving me the opportunity to speak to this topic, which isn't exactly what we are debating today, but it has consequences and is found in almost all of the bills this government introduces.
The Conservatives always give discretionary powers to the ministers in their bills. We have seen this with immigration bills, among others, as well as a number of bills I have heard people debate in the House.
This is very dangerous for our democracy. It is a hard thing to control. I have seen a judge use his discretionary power to punish an offender by having him wash windows for community groups for a certain number of hours, because the young offender had broken windows.
If the government imposes minimum sentences, judges no longer have that discretionary power and can no longer hand down punishments that will help offenders rejoin society more quickly.