Thank you very much.
Thank you very much to our witnesses.
Just for the record, I'd like to thank you, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. With regard to the last point that you made, that is the interpretation of the Government of Canada. When it refers to clergy or ministers, it is referring to all religious officials. I was at the Department of Justice, and there was certainly no interpretation that did not also include rabbis and other religious officials.
Indeed with respect to the masculine terminology, I remember back in the 1980s that the Government of Canada did make an effort to try to neutralize many sections of federal laws. Obviously there's still a way to go, but it is interpreted as one or the other.
I'll start with you, Mr. Coughlan. One of the things that I always heard about the common law, even as it is applied to legislation, was about how that ability to interpret it over the years actually made it more effective. The Criminal Code has been in place for the last 125 years, but your study is saying that the German system is much more successful. Their criminal code has been much more successful than has the Canadian one. Is that basically your position?