Mr. Speaker, these petitions were originally sent to Sharon Hayes, the former member from the riding of Port Moody—Coquitlam.
It is my honour and privilege to present them on her behalf. There are some 500 signatures from her riding, another thousand from the lower mainland and several hundred from the prairie provinces. It has to deal with the issue of age of consent.
These petitioners ask Parliament to consider changing the age of consent from 14 to 16, which could assist in the prosecution of adults who buy sex from young people because the adult could then be charged with sexual assault. It would not be necessary to prove some of the other things that are necessary under the current Criminal Code.
The efforts of these people to try to make the streets safer for young people and to try to make it difficult for predators to prey on young kids are a laudable effort. I support their goal.
It is interesting that many of the people who signed their names here are teenagers who feel that the current law needs to be changed.