Currently we have a mix of statutory provisions that protect against compellability for spouses and also some common-law rules. These are in the Canada Evidence Act. The bill is seeking to abolish that rule so that all spouses would be competent to testify against their spouse, and compellable, and right now for common law it does apply. For example, in the situation of spousal abuse, that would be covered now under common law, so yes, it would still apply in that sense.
Basically what would happen is that the crown would make a decision in a particular case: would calling this spouse to testify against the accused provide evidence that the crown cannot otherwise bring before the court? The crown would normally take into consideration whether there are other sources of evidence to provide this. If not, if that's the major witness, then that would be an option.
For example, in an impaired driving case, the spouse who sees the accused driving would be able to say what she observed her spouse to be doing, but she would not be required under the victims bill of rights to communicate what had been communicated to her in confidence by her spouse. The communication privilege would be preserved by Bill C-32, but she could still be compelled to testify as to her own observations.