I don't agree with the sentence "That’s not to say mandatory minimums don’t have their place – in the case of murder, for instance. " Even murder can have mitigating circumstances, e.g. in the case of the battered spouse or abused child. Mandatory minima have no legitimate place in Canadian criminal law.

The crimes where I would come closest to agreeing with mandatory minima would be those committed purely for profit. Sentences severe enough to make such crimes unprofitable might well have some deterrent effect.