moved for leave to introduce Bill C-277, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (luring a child).
Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to table a bill, which would amend the Criminal Code of Canada to provide tougher penalties for persons who use the Internet to lure children for sexual purposes. The maximum penalty for this crime would increase from five years to 10 years imprisonment. If passed, together with our government's Bill C-9, it will ensure that people who use the Internet to sexually exploit our children will spend hard time in jail, not life in the comfortable surroundings of their home.
Seventy-five per cent of Canadians use the Internet, many of these being children. Statistics show that in the past two years, luring of children over the Internet has increased an astounding 1,200%.
The bill is long overdue and is a significant first step in protecting our vulnerable children against sexual predators.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)