First of all, in the beginning you talked about section 1 of the charter, which in the end states, “such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society”. I believe that's what you were referring to, correct?
The important part there is where it says “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society”. We've already established the fact, and there's been no refutation, that this is a loosely worded, vague law that has been abused over the 40-plus years it's been in play. I don't know how that would fit the restriction that section 1 actually puts on it, saying that it has to be demonstrably justified.
To your burden-of-proof argument, which is an argument the official opposition made in the House of Commons during debate, I believe what you're pushing for is a two-tiered system of hate speech in our country. I believe—and I do understand we're at a difference of opinion with this—that this actually demeans how serious in nature hate speech is.
If somebody is practising hate speech to the extreme extent of which the Supreme Court of Canada talked about section 13 needing to look at, then that needs to be dealt with in a serious manner. It needs to be investigated, as I think you would agree, by the police. It needs to be presided over by a judge in an open and transparent system, which in our democracy has been the Criminal Code of Canada for the entire length of time we've been a country. I think that's the mechanism in which we should be looking at this.
I hope when we talk about the different groups that are endorsing my legislation.... I do bring up the Muslim Canadian Congress, the Canadian Jewish Congress, PEN Canada, the Toronto Star. This is a diverse group of people with different backgrounds and different ways of looking at the issue. Seeing the support that I've had from these groups and continue to have from Canadians as a whole, I'm hoping we'll be able to sit down, Mr. Sandhu, and find a way in which we can get some opposition support on this. I believe issues like this are too important not to be looked at in a non-partisan light so that we can cooperatively look at this legislation.