Mr. Speaker, my question does not get into international conventions, the Internet, global accords and so on. It deals with real circumstances and situations.
A lot of the problems with the law in Canada cannot be cured by making more laws and making them thicker and higher. A lot of the problems have to do with making our laws more effective. We must see the defects in legislation and fix them so the problems are resolved.
The government says it wants to protect young people from sexual exploitation. We came up with a specific amendment that would go back to what we had before 1990, something which worked for decades and did not create any problems.
The circumstance I will deal with is a real one. It is not isolated to myself. As a former lawyer I had a case where I was asked for advice. A couple in their mid-thirties had a 14 year old child who was living with a man who was 40 years of age. The couple asked me what they could legally do. I looked at the criminal code. I am not a criminal law expert. Parents have a duty to provide the necessities for their children but the age of consent was 14.
Can the minister tell me whether the duty to provide for the necessities of a child extends to 14 and 15 year olds? If it does, what will the government do so parents can exercise that right?