Well, I suppose to respond to both Ms. Morency's comments and the question from Mr. Bagnell, I don't agree with the statistical analysis that Ms. Morency has given. The reality is that the numbers are substantially higher than that for people who marry, particularly in the territories. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but to suggest that it's one or four cases is, I think, a misrepresentation of actual reality.
In terms of the rationale behind this, the reason I'm proposing this amendment is to deal with those exceptional cases. Again, I haven't looked at the American experience, so I can't comment on that; I don't know what the criteria are there. But with this amendment, if it went through, we would be allowing the continuation of the use of the provincial legislation. What we're doing is that whether it's a parent in combination with, as in Ontario, a senior bureaucrat, or in combination with a judge in a number of the other provinces--with the exception of the three that Ms. Morency mentioned--we're in effect letting somebody else decide whether this relationship is one that has the right to be sanct...or acknowledged--excuse me, we'll remain secular here--or recognized by the state, even if the relationship is one of an age gap greater than the five years that we're providing for here.
So that's the rationale; it's to deal with those. I agree with Ms. Morency to the extent that these are going to be the exceptional cases, but we've had them in our law for a long time. There are those exceptional circumstances. We in effect allow somebody else, not the accused person or the victim--if we can put it in terms of traditional criminal law--deciding whether this is going to be allowed.
If we pass this amendment, it in effect leaves the existing system in place to deal with those exceptional circumstances where you allow somebody else, whether it's a parent in combination with a minister, or in combination with a judge.... In some cases, I believe some of the statutes allow for the judge alone to make the decision. So it's to allow for that discretion to remain in the system.