Hon. Paula Simons: Thank you, Senator Cotter.

I was reminded, as Senator Carignan was speaking, and as I read the amendment of the R. v. Martineau decision in 1990 — which I remember, because I, many years later, covered a case in which a judge, forgetting that Martineau had struck a section out of the Criminal Code, attempted to convict somebody of second-degree murder with robbery being the predicate felony.

I’m wondering — since you are a constitutional law professor and I am not — if you could tell me whether you think that the court’s reasoning in Martineau would, perhaps, render this amendment unconstitutional, because Martineau found that a person charged with murder must have formed the intent to commit that crime. In this instance, this amendment, even if you didn’t have the intent to commit first-degree murder, you would potentially be captured. I wonder if you think the argumentation in Martineau would flow to be mirrored in this.