Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I agree with what my colleague, Mr. Mark Warawa, said.
We have to remember that the bill we are considering and are in the process of adopting applies to employees under federal jurisdiction and, as I said, it also applies to harassment in the political environment on Parliament Hill.
In this regard, we clearly remember testimony from MPs about situations that had absolutely nothing to do with their work, isolated situations that occurred outside MPs' normal working environment. These situations did not occur in the House of Commons or at riding offices, yet the conduct and gestures seem to match the definition of harassment exactly.
As legislators, we must clearly indicate that MPs are subject to the harassment legislation and must comply with it wherever they are. Our objective is zero tolerance of harassment.
The improvements suggested by the NDP serve this purpose. We are talking about actions, comments or conduct, but what is interesting in the proposed amendment to the basic definition is the reference to isolated gestures. This provides a reference to place that is not otherwise mentioned in the definition. This is therefore a constructive amendment. It means that even if an MP is in a dark corner and does something that violates the spirit of the act, they are at fault and will have to suffer the consequences.
In this sense, I think this is a very good addition by my NDP colleague and I intend to support it. As legislators, our role is to give clear directives to the those who will be implementing the act that we are in the process of adopting.