Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate the member for Red Deer for putting forward this initiative. I think he knows that all of us are very supportive of children's issues and would hope that the bill would go to the justice and human rights committee for further study. As my colleague, the parliamentary secretary for justice, outlined, the bill is fairly specific in terms of which offences people must have committed before this act would take place. Maybe the list is not complete or maybe there are some other considerations.
I must say that I am particularly pleased to see that there is a provision in the discussion for consent of the custodial spouse or former spouse. I can imagine over the course of someone's time in jail that there would be changes to the children, not for the children who are direct victims but for children whose parents have committed an offence.
The essence of the bill is worthy. Even before the committee gets it through the process for consideration I would hope there is a possibility to work with the Correctional Service of Canada and with the Canadian judiciary to educate them so we are not forced to pass these kinds of laws. I hope they will use common sense in making decisions about custody and access to ensure that children's rights are being protected. It is children who have the right to grow up and have freedom and protection.
The bill which the member for Red Deer has brought forward is consistent with the government's commitment to protecting children. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice who worked for many years on those issues and I as vice-chair of the justice committee passed a lot of laws related to the protection of children in our first mandate, whether it was pornography, predators or sex tourism. We worked hard to make a lot of changes. Additional ideas are coming forward and that is important.
The other thing I would stress is the context for this discussion. Jail is supposed to be a place to rehabilitate people. It is supposed to be a place where people can come out as better individuals. Families play an important role in that process, both while the person is there and into the future. I would hope there would be some facility to ensure that for those children who do want contact, their wishes would be considered and that we would have common sense.
The member opposite wanted to move that the bill be brought forward to committee. I am not exactly sure on the timing but I would sit down with the member in support of the committee doing a thorough job in analyzing what other laws should be included in the legislation.