Justice committee  Well, any piece of legislation, obviously, would be subject to potential arguments on whether or not it's cruel and unusual punishment, but we've identified the primary legislative difficulties we have with respect to its implication. Any legislation has to comply with section 12

Justice committee  We submit that the existing legislation that's already in place, section 718 of the Criminal Code, the aggravating factors set out there as well as the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the important role of judicial discretion, already achieve the goals that have been iden

Justice committee  With respect to the drug treatment courts, the bill prevents entry into the drug treatment courts if any of the aggravating factors are met. Our submission on that point is that entry into the drug treatment courts shouldn't be precluded by those particular factors and that they

Justice committee  We could identify two points in the criminal justice process where there may be a result of increasing delays because of this legislation. The first would be the fewer number of people who we would anticipate pleading guilty by virtue of the automatic mandatory minimum sentence b

Justice committee  As I stated in my submission, of course we hear anecdotally about different cases, and each case is subject to its own individual sentencing process, which is why we support the important role of judicial discretion. If in any given particular case there is an opinion that the s

Justice committee  We would say it does eliminate judicial discretion, which is working just fine.

Justice committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the opportunity to present to you today the CBA's national criminal justice section submission on Bill C-15. We acknowledge that this committee has heard numerous presentations already on this bill from different g