Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, what I'm attempting to do with these amendments is to extend the provisions on page 2 in proposed subsections 150.1(2.1) and 150.1(2.2)--and then an additional one--on an indefinite basis. What this protection does is that in the case of any relationship that falls into these categories, meaning the parties have been cohabitating and are having a child, or they are married--I think those are the two basic positions--this proposed subsection would not apply to them, no matter what the age gap is between the couple.
It's there in a limited way, in effect retroactively, so that if the relationship exists at the time this law comes into effect, they would have that protection; this part of the code would not operate against them, even if the age gap is greater than five years. We do have relationships of that nature. We heard that from the Juristat people. I don't think we got a definitive figure; my own sense is that somewhere around 1% of the population fits into that category of relationships of five years or more.
I'm going to refer to both amendments, Mr. Chair. The effect of the first amendment in replacing this wording in lines 23 and 24 on page 2 is that it would extend this prospectively as well as retroactively; it would go on an ongoing basis.
Then the second amendment--and I know it is a bit out of line to do this--would deal with the very specific case of an application under the provincial legislation that is outstanding. That's really what it's dealing with. That application is one to a court in a situation in which the age is under 16 for marriage. There's an outstanding court application for that purpose. A couple wants to marry. It's before a judge by way of a specific court application, so that application would be outstanding, and in NDP-2 we're saying if that were the circumstance, again this subsection of the code, when passed, would not apply negatively to those relationships.
To recap, NDP-1 is on an ongoing basis. If they fall into the category of either a common-law relationship, with a child, or the category of a marriage, this proposed subsection would not apply to them, and under NDP-2 it would not apply if there is simply an outstanding application at the time this proposed subsection of the code comes into effect.