Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech. I would like to tell the House again that no one is opposed to the bill, and I believe that it may even be adopted unanimously. Every member in the House recognizes the important role that service animals play, whether they work with law enforcement officers or people with a disability, for example.
However, I believe that my colleague may have left something out of his speech, or he did not want to mention it, and that is this government's recourse to minimum sentencing once again. The government seems to be telling our judges that they do not have the discretion to make their own decisions and enforce the law.
I do not have a problem with amending the Criminal Code in order to impose sentences on people who injure or kill service animals.
However, could my colleague explain why his government makes minimum sentences mandatory, and why it does not let judges do their job as they should?