Mr. Speaker, as a criminal law attorney who has appeared before the courts on many occasions, my first reaction is to be pleased to hear my hon. colleague say at the end of his speech that the Court of Appeal reversed the decision.
Under the Criminal Code, if a person has sexual relations with a victim less than 14 years old, ignorance of age is not a defence. That does not matter. There are already sections in the Criminal Code that are very clear on this, and the bill will not change anything in this respect.
I have appeared often enough to be able to say that claiming before the court that the victim consented to the relations is no defence. When a person is 20 years old and the victim 12, it is no defence. She must be 14 years of age or more, or else it is all over. I do not even understand, by the way, why there was a trial, but that is another story.
In answer to my hon. colleague’s question, this bill will explain and clarify things. There is the close in age exception of five years. A 20 year old youth and a 15 year old girl can continue having sexual relations. What the government wants to do through this bill—and what the Bloc supports—is prevent sexual predators and sexual exploiters from achieving their ends. In the hon. member’s example, it is evident that if young, 20 year old men induce a 14 year old girl to have sexual relations with them, they will be cooked under this new bill.
If the bill comes into force, they will not be able to rely on this defence. Nowadays, it is five years. I encourage my hon. colleague to make his remarks because if this bill is agreed to by the House, we will be able to study it thoroughly in committee.
In conclusion, I would say that the Criminal Code is not there to sentence the crime; it is there to sentence the individual who committed the crime. There is quite a difference here that our friends across the aisle—the current government—have not fully grasped.