In light of the fact that the basic objective of Bill C-22 is to prevent young people of less than 16 years of age from consenting to sexual activities, since the current legal age of consent is 14, it does not make sense that a particular sexual activity should continue to be illegal. In that case, setting the legal age of consent at 14, as does the current Criminal Code provision, or at 16 if Bill C-22 is passed, is nonsensical. The objective of the bill is to set a legal age of consent, an age of protection. But we would be excluding a particular sexual activity from that protection threshold. I think that this falls, as we say in English,
within the scope of Bill C-22, and I would hope the chair would rule to that effect.