Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, he has not answered my question. Why is the one crime more serious than the other?
What I can see happening in our court cases is that this will simply be another make work program for lawyers. It will add a dimension to trials. They will be able to argue a crime was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate. Rather than focusing on the facts of the case, that a crime was committed and that the behaviour was not acceptable, they will have another dimension added to all of these court cases. What drives this legislation? Was it possibly designed by lawyers? Was it designed by people like that who may benefit?
Our court trials are already expensive enough. We do not need another dimension added which this legislation will add.
The question that needs to be answered is if a woman is sexually assaulted is that not as serious as if she is violated because she belongs to some category?