Thank you for your question, Senator Martin, but what I said in my answer — and I believe Hansard will bear this out — is that we have robust laws in the Criminal Code to deal with extortion, but the enforcement of these laws, whether it’s by the RCMP, which operates at arm’s length from this government — as it should and, I hope, will continue without political interference — or provincial or municipal police services, the application of our laws, whatever the content of the laws, is typically in the hands of prosecutors in most cases and, certainly, police forces in all cases, which are and should remain independent of the government. That was the thrust of my answer — not to minimize the significance of the extortion and the harm that it causes to individual Canadians or the like. It was simply to try to give an accurate picture of where the responsibilities lie and are shared.

The short answer is that the government does not agree with your characterization, nor does it agree, typically, with the decades-long repetition of a criminal law policy that all research and evidence — not only here but even by earlier proponents of it, whether in Canada or in other jurisdictions — have admitted is a failure. That’s where the government stands in response to your question.