Mr. Speaker, we looked at this bill for dozens of hours at the justice committee, and I think I was looking at a different bill than the one the member was referring to. I would like to point out two inaccuracies in her comments.
First, terrorism and genocide offences were not hybridized under this bill.
Second, and more important, offences are not given lesser penalties under this bill. There are many offences that were already hybridized in Canada before this bill. All that hybridization does is allow the Crown to choose between an indictable and a summary type of offence. Under indictable offences, which they were before, the maximum sentence was five, seven or 10 years, but the minimum sentence could have been a fine. Therefore, there is no difference in minimum sentences and there is also the possibility of looking at the facts of the case and prosecuting it as a summary offence.
I would like to ask if the member was aware, before she gave her remarks, that terrorism and genocide offences were not hybridized under this bill?