I agree. However, it's also a concept to set, in a bill of this nature, the age of majority at 18, meaning the age up to which people are subject to privacy legislation.
I've had conversations with people of various ages about the age at which individuals can make decisions for themselves. Of course, the answers differed, because the views vary from person to person.
I'm thinking back to the early 20th century, or even to 35 years ago, when the Internet didn't exist. I don't know how old you are, but I'm 62. We didn't have the communication tools 25 years ago that we have today. Does this make us smarter? I'm not sure. When we were teenagers, we didn't have the same tools. These days, a number of young people have access to these tools from a very early age. In some cases, it's almost dangerous. In my opinion, having access to these technological tools doesn't make young people any more responsible.
Based on my conversations on this topic, the age of 18 is still a given, in theory. The legislation could say 14, 15 or 16. However, 18 is the generally accepted age in western countries. In a way, it's only natural.
We propose that the bill set the age at 18. This isn't binding. Obviously, it would require young people to obey the law. However, it would give us greater leeway. When we legislate, we must think about young people who are more sensitive, more open to attack, in a way, or more naive. No matter what we call them, we have a duty to protect these young people. In a way, we play the role of guardians of these young people. For that reason, we think that this amendment is important, even though Quebec's law 25 sets the age at 14.
In terms of consistency or compatibility, I would like to know the age established in various pieces of legislation both in Canada and abroad in the United States or the European Union.