Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank the Green Party for this amendment. I know it was originally put forward before we actually had any testimony before the committee, but I know Mrs. Atwin has been following along.
Of course, I support the goal of this amendment. I have an amendment to the same section that proposes a different way of accomplishing the same thing.
We heard much testimony and concern, in particular from the Minister of Justice, that we should have a conversion therapy bill that would withstand any possible court challenge. In the amendment that we will deal with immediately following, if this one is not adopted, I proposed a different strategy, which was to add the word “adult” alongside “child”, rather than simply making the bill a flat ban. I know this is a technical and legal point, but what it does is leave room for courts, if they chose to strike down the ban on conversion therapy for consenting adults, to leave the rest of the bill intact.
While I obviously support the same goal, I am going to vote against this amendment because I think there's a better legal strategy for accomplishing the same goal.