Irwin Cotler

[Justice, September 28th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the hon. member of two things.

Number one, that bill is a result of a unanimous recommendation by a parliamentary committee which included members of the opposition of that committee.

The second thing is that the bill calls for four new offences to combat grow ops with enhanced penalties. We would ask for the opposition's cooperation to enact that rather than to obstruct it.

[Justice, September 28th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the matter the Leader of the Opposition is referring to is currently before the courts. I cannot comment. I will repeat today that the case falls within the jurisdiction of the provincial Crown.

[Justice, September 28th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we appreciate that there is no greater responsibility for a government than to protect the safety of its citizens, no greater responsibility than to protect the rights of communities and the rights of people in those communities.

Therefore, we have said and continue to enact, and it needs to be appreciated with regard to gun related crime that we take it with the seriousness that it deserves. There are at this point mandatory minimum penalties of up to four years to a maximum of life imprisonment for 10 serious offences committed with a firearm.

[Sponsorship Program, September 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, that is the same question, only in French. So the answer is also the same in French.

[Sponsorship Program, September 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, there are two responses. One, ministers of justice do not comment on specific sentences in specific cases. I would appreciate it if the member opposite would understand that. Two, with regard to the matter of sentences in any particular case, it is the provincial Crowns that prosecute and make submissions before the court.

[Justice, September 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, one difference between me and the hon. member opposite is that I have read the evidence and he is making up the evidence.

[Justice, September 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we do not need to be lectured by the opposition on safe communities. If the member opposite would just open the Criminal Code and read it for a change, he would find that there are mandatory minimums with respect to the offences of which he is speaking. And if he would look to the south to which he is always referring, he would see that the American Bar Association last year recommended to do away with mandatory minimums because they have no effect, they do not deter and they result in unnecessary incapacitation and unnecessary costs to the system without protecting security.

[Justice, September 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, on mandatory minimums and gun related crimes, I want to state that there are more mandatory minimums for gun related crimes than any other crime in the Criminal Code with the exception of murder.

With regard to the question of marijuana, we are not going to scrap a bill that was unanimously recommended by a previous parliamentary committee.

[Justice, September 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, there are serious sentences with respect to the amphetamine regulatory changes we initiated this summer.

With regard to matters now before the House, they are before the parliamentary committee. If the committee wants to move any amendments to the legislation, it can do so.

[Justice, September 26th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, this case is now before the courts. The provincial Crown is responsible for taking the necessary action.