Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I hope you can give me a little bit of latitude because it's hard to talk about the amendments without talking about the bill as a whole.
We heard two different perspectives from witnesses. One of those I found very persuasive. That was that this bill doesn't actually do anything that would make the struggle against trafficking more effective, that it won't actually provide more resources for targeted trafficking units and law enforcement. It won't actually provide more resources for those who are fleeing trafficking situations in the community. Those who have worked with trafficking issues know that those are the two most important things we can do to help combat trafficking.
In casting a broad net as the original bill does, we risk making the mistake that we've been warned against in all of our discussions about sex work. When you define something too broadly, you capture a lot of things that ought not be captured. I think Bill S-244 defines trafficking in such a way that many practices that are not in fact trafficking would get included under the bill. The danger there is when you make everything trafficking, you miss the real trafficking and you miss the most serious parts of the trafficking offences.
For that reason, I can't see that Bill S-244 is a useful bill. I understand Mr. Fortin's attempt to fix those problems. I think it's a goodwill attempt that he's put forward here in these amendments.
My problem at this point is that I know that I've received a petition signed by more than 60 organizations asking us not to proceed with this bill. They have not been consulted on anything that's being suggested by Mr. Fortin. I would be hesitant to vote for these kinds of amendments without hearing from witnesses on the specifics of this. I think we would be better off as a committee defeating the amendments because we haven't had input on the specifics of them, and then defeating the bill or recommending that the House not proceed with the bill in the future.
For that reason, Mr. Fortin, even though I think it's a very good effort to fix the bill, I won't be supporting your amendment and I won't be supporting the bill.
Thank you.