It is actually quite startling across Canada. Every year, we have a number of high-profile incidents involving intimate partner violence. I know that in my community several years ago there was an incident right behind my office, and we see virtually every community across Canada being impacted by it. The chief of police for Halifax has been quoted as calling this an “epidemic” in his region.
It is an area where I think we need collaboration. We need non-partisanship when we speak about issues around intimate partner violence. The study you're doing is critically important, and the legislation that's before the House, again, is critically important. As we move to strengthen a number of areas of the law, including victims' rights, with Bill C-16, I'm hoping that as a country, as a government and as parties of different stripes we're able to find consensus on what those laws are and move forward.