Mr. Speaker, that is a good question. I am the mother of a police officer and I hear over and over again how the criminals get out faster than the time it takes to do the paperwork to put them in.
As one voice, the House of Commons is the highest court in the land. As one voice, there can be no arguments across party lines. We have to stand as one voice and raise the age of consent from 14 to 16. We must be very clear on it. We have to get the message out that there will be questions when anything goes awry. No one should be get off on the fact that the person thought the girl was 14. For me, 14 is too young anyway.
Any age is too young for a young girl to be exploited. Even if the girls were 18 or 23, why give them liquor and exploit them? It is a criminal offence. This is not something that should be debated. This debate should not be restricted in the House of Commons today. These are the hard questions we need to ask because we all know what happens.
We cannot allow the exploitation of young people to happen any longer. We have to stand up and ignore the people who stand in corners and whisper “I don't like to hear this” or “I don't like to hear that”. All members of Parliament are standing up and saying, like the member on this side of the House said, that this happens in our courts of law and that we do not want it to happen.