Justice committee  We've had presentations, such as that of Mr. Plecas. He came to submit a study report on the impact of sentences on crime and the correlation between sentences and crime. Dr. Plecas has made some presentations to us.

Justice committee  If there's one problem that we've observed over the years, it's that plea bargaining, that is negotiations between the Crown prosecutor — which was a very well-paying livelihood for Mr. Lemay in his previous life — and the defence obviously considerably reduces the impact of the sentence, in terms of length of sentence.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  No, I don't doubt it.

Justice committee  From the west. He's a professor from the west, and we'll give you his contact information. It will be a pleasure for us to forward it to you. He also explains the importance of this approach. Moreover, in the context of certain discussions, we've realized that the problem, when you don't have major deterrents, such as strict minimum sentences, is that you wind up with a reoffender who will continue to offend.

Justice committee  Absolutely. Moreover, Mr. Stuesser also noted the point. In the case of a gun crime, we shouldn't consider the type of weapon or whether the person belongs to a criminal organization. We're talking about violent crimes, but also about violent criminals. In another act, there are already provisions concerning membership in a criminal organization.

Justice committee  That's correct.

Justice committee  There are many things that should be done if we're talking about firearms. One of them, of course, concerns the storage of firearms. We have a lot of people who go to different places because they like to shoot at targets. They become members of clubs. We had a discussion on our board about those clubs storing the guns.

Justice committee  The last thing, which you'll see in our brief, is to update the prohibited and restricted list. It hasn't been done for over 10 years now. There are some new guns. If you go to the website of Wolverine, you'll see what kind of promotion that company is making. They say, “They're not on the list yet so you can buy them, and we suggest you buy them as soon as possible before they are on the list.”

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, committee members, good afternoon. The Canadian Police Association welcomes the opportunity to present our submissions to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights with respect to Bill C-10, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (minimum penalties for offences involving firearms).

Justice committee  When we're talking about the way criminals exploit the system and the flaws in the system, it's unbelievable. They're experts in that. Plus they have the defence attorneys. They pay big money just to make sure that.... I'm sorry Mr. Lemay isn't here, because he was one of those strong defence lawyers.

Justice committee  That's why I'm saying I was talking about de-conditional. Well, we talk about conditional sentences. Those are the ones I'm mentioning.

Justice committee  Yes?

Justice committee  I was talking about conditional sentences, because if you talk about other things on probation and the ones that get out after one-sixth of their sentence because it is qualified as a non-violent crime, we saw it so many times--

Justice committee  Mr. Lee, you are experienced, but I'll be very practical on things that you've probably witnessed, or comments you've received from people you've represented, saying, “He's back on the street. He didn't get a sentence and now he's at the corner where I live and he laughs at me.”