Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the question. I share his concerns about the delay involved in getting this bill before us. Even if the legislation had passed last June, it is virtually inexcusable we have not acted sooner to protect children from the activity of luring over the Internet, which is what the legislation is aimed at curbing.
This problem has been with us for a long time. I know the Catholic women's league and the Sisters of Saint Martha in my riding of Pictou--Antigonish--Guysborough have been very proactive in their white ribbon campaign to remind the government and to constantly keep the issue on the front burner in terms of legislative initiatives such as this one.
One would hope that this step does not preclude future efforts on behalf of legislators and members of parliament as is the case with the hon. member's bill that he has taken over from the former member, Chris Axworthy.
We would hope that the use of technology for such a nefarious and extremely damaging cause would be curbed at every step. The hon. member is correct in pointing out that children are particularly vulnerable because of the prominence of computers in schools and in homes.
Children routinely communicate with unknown individuals over the Internet using chat sites. This new mode of communication can be extremely damaging because the luring provisions often lead to meetings or physical confrontations where the child is unbeknownst to the pedophile. Rendezvous may take place at a certain point with a known pedophile where an individual may embark on a terrible act of sexual aggression or physical violence. For that very reason we are optimistic that this type of legislation would help curb that type of activity.
Coupled with the bill is the important qualifier that without giving police the resources to do the follow up, without working with Internet service providers to ensure that there is policing of this network of communication, the bill would not accomplish its goals. Therefore we hope the government would be prepared to put money where the bill is and provide police with special funding, if necessary, to ensure that this type of communication which can have such grave implications for children is curbed.