Thank you, Madam Chair, for the opportunity to speak to this amendment. I think it's a very important amendment.
In my personal life, when I bought a car or when I bought a house, I had to get co-signers sometimes. In the world of business where I came from, I had to get co-signers. That was just for things were purely monetary. Here, we're talking about someone's life, the very breath that they breathe. To suggest for a moment that there shouldn't be at least two witnesses.... That's all we're asking for, two witnesses. When we force other people to have co-signers and witnesses for things that are monetary, such as a house, a business or a car, then I think the thinking on this is totally backwards.
This has been in the legislation. I guess I have to question now what exactly is the long-term goal of not keeping two witnesses. Is it so that eventually we'll have zero witnesses? Certainly, that's not what the government is thinking with this proposed legislation. Certainly there's nothing wrong with having two witnesses. This amendment is absolutely vital.
Again, I go back to this not being a monetary discussion. This is about the lifeblood of someone. I can't conceive of why anyone would suggest for a moment that someone's life is not worth having two witnesses.
I am going to be voting very much in favour of this amendment and I would totally respectfully ask everybody to really pay attention and consider this amendment.
Thank you, Madam Chair.