Hon. Frances Lankin: I’m entering on debate because I appreciate the voice condition you have. I did have questions, and maybe somebody else who has worked with you on this might be able to, in speaking to this bill, respond to them.

Of course, we have just heard this amendment, and I’m just reading it here. I need to put it into context with the rest of the bill. I want to ask about the full impact of this amendment. I know from talking to some of your caucus colleagues in response to my questions about some concerns about the bill that there were concerns about whether minimum sentences, for example, should be introduced into this and a range of other things.

This is slightly different. This is about what category of charge would be appropriate given the circumstances of the commission of the crime that you are talking about. It’s a very despicable set of conditions that you have described, so I understand why you are trying to address that.

What I don’t know is, at the current time within the Criminal Code, what discretion there is for the prosecutors or the attorneys on behalf of Justice to give thought and discretion to what the conditions were and all the sorts of things we think about when we think about discretion of judges in terms of sentencing. As people speak to this, that’s one of the concerns that I would be interested in. I would want to know that people who were involved in committee throughout this whole process have taken a look at it and have understood. I don’t know if it was introduced in committee or if this is brand new.

My concern is that prosecutors have a certain discretion, along with the police, about what charge is laid in certain cases. I don’t know if this limits them, and I don’t know if it has been looked at what the problems or consequences of that would be. It sounds reasonable, but I need to know that and, therefore, what that means with respect to any current provision of minimum sentencing that might apply to this category of offence.

I am hoping that others who have worked with you or talked with you and who are in opposition to this bill would speak to that when they speak to your amendment. I’m sorry that your voice is not allowing you to answer that directly.