SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 49

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 30, 2022 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 49 - Mar/30/22
Hon. David Lametti
  • Mar/30/22 4:13:45 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-5 
Mr. Speaker, the fallacy and the argument that is being brought forth by the hon. member is quite clear. We are eliminating minimum mandatory penalties. There is still a maximum sentencing range that exists for all crimes. In the crime that he described, and in the circumstances that he described, a judge would have the flexibility and the opportunity to give a serious sentence. That is precisely what happens. What we are doing is taking away the lower end, where a person perhaps has a few too many on a Saturday night and puts a couple of bullets into the side of an empty barn. There are differences in the way these sentences ought to happen. What we are doing is giving power back to the judges. Judges are the hallmark of our common-law system. I do not know why the other side does not trust them.
148 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Context: House Hansard - 49 - Mar/30/22
Hon. David Lametti
  • Mar/30/22 4:25:04 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-5 
Mr. Speaker, I have had lovely and intellectual exchanges with the hon. member over the course of our time here since 2015, but I reject the premise of his question. Today, the error is in presuming that a judge would always give the minimum sentence. In the serious set of facts that he is describing or alluding to, a judge would have the power to go to the maximum sentence, according to the circumstances involved. What we are doing with this bill is not what he is referring to. Rather, we are referring to people who are innocently or naively caught up in something and not necessarily the major perpetrator, or who perhaps have a problematic addiction that needs to be dealt with. The bill allows a sentencing judge to take those circumstances into account and fashion a sentence that fits the crime. Serious crime, I will assure the hon. member, will always be punished seriously in this country.
159 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Context: House Hansard - 49 - Mar/30/22
Hon. David Lametti
  • Mar/30/22 4:35:07 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-5 
Mr. Speaker, I would ask people to pay attention to what is being done in the bill and what is not. This is not the minimum mandatory penalties part of the bill, as a previous speaker from the other side seemed to intimate. This is the conditional sentence orders part of the bill and here we are allowing a judge to give a serious sentence where there is a serious crime. A conditional sentence order, and I tell the hon. member this, can only be done for a crime in which the sentence would be under two years and would not endanger public safety. They do not involve the kinds of acts, in any way, that were raised by the hon. member.
122 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border