Mr. Speaker, this speech will depart from a series of speeches linked by a common thread, in order to highlight a matter before this House that, I must say, is in my area of practice.
Now I am going to make amends. Some of my constituents have pointed out that, in most of my speeches in this House, there is a recurring theme. I have spoken for a number of hours in this House—many hours—at a rate of four or five speeches every week. Over the months, they add up.
Far be it from me to present myself as some obtuse academic, or to be narrow-minded like some of my colleagues who are told to toe the party line and how to act, and whose speeches are even written for them. I must admit that there is a recurring theme in each of my speeches.
I still have an ace up my sleeve, and that is what I am doing right now: I am going to use my ace and continue talking about a recurring theme: the law. I am going to talk about the philosophy of law and ethics in the fields that I studied, about 10 years ago, when I began studying law at Université Laval.
I will continue in this vein. I will take a look at comparative law and transpose some of these principles because I think that, rather like the recurring themes in each of my speeches, these are subjects that deserve to be examined and presented to all Canadians. This is why I sometimes emphasize these notions. I am going to speak further to these issues today.
In this speech, I am going to draw on concepts I was taught during my training at Université Laval. It is a very good university. I want to emphasize that. The tangent I am going to take will be influenced by concepts relating to the ethical issues that fuel the social debate about prize fighting.
As I said earlier, I began studying the law in 2001. I started here first, at the University of Ottawa, and then I continued at Université Laval in Quebec City. Over time, I saw that it was a very good university. The quality of education there is excellent.
In my first year, I was asked to select courses, and I turned of course toward the philosophy of law. I had one professor, Bjarne Melkevik, a Norwegian who had taught at Laval University for a number of years, who was in charge of the courses, who went into things in depth, who investigated and decided to explore issues that at the time were rather less accessible and rather less popular. As part of the program, we discussed the social costs of self-mutilating behaviour. This is just one example that is not necessarily in line with the focus of this speech. We discussed the social costs of hospitalizing people who self-harm. I remember vaguely that we also discussed ultimate fighting, back then. That was about a decade ago. It was already on the map, it was already a trend, and we had to look into it. I remember this vaguely. It was not something that came up in many classes. However, it was one subject. Mr. Melkevik, who is European, was a bit ahead of his time. I would like to send my greetings out to him, by the way, in the hope that he is watching me right now.
At that time, the subject was a bit avant-garde. It is a little less so today. We are talking about it here, in the House of Commons. Later on, I will be discussing how the Criminal Code is a document, a tool that must be innovative and that must be updated on a regular basis. This is what we are doing right now. Canadian society has come to this point. In a broader sense, we have to take a look at these concepts that deserve to be dealt with for Canadians as a whole.
The mere fact that the issues involved in mixed martial arts are now included in the university law curriculum is evidence of the social changes that support revisiting the provisions in the Criminal Code covering the risks inherent in prize fighting.
As I have mentioned on a number of occasions—I am repeating myself while hoping I am not being redundant—in my practice I focused on representing clients in the criminal sphere.
When I went to work at the legal aid office after I was called to the bar in 2006 or 2007, I was assigned duties related to criminal law right away. That is why I was asked to focus on the Criminal Code and related laws.
Over the years and during my time in the House, I have seen that this law is constantly evolving. It is fairly long. In fact, the bound annotated version is a very large document. It is a document that is constantly evolving and adapting to changes in society. We have examined it. We have discussed it here and have had fairly animated debates regarding offences, particularly those related to technology and cyberbullying.
The Criminal Code must be updated on a regular basis, and that is what we are doing right now. What is being proposed here is simply an addition to the law, which can be summarized in a few words, particularly if we take into consideration the innovations and amendments that the Conservatives have conceived and ruthlessly applied to the principles of the Criminal Code over the past year and a half. These changes are very small.
By way of example, I will quote the bill:
“prize fight” means an encounter or fight with fists, hands or feet...
The word “feet” is simply being added. That is not a huge change. However, it is required to prevent a legal void or grey area.
Several provinces, including Quebec, already have regulations that enjoy wide support. That is why ultimate fighting contests already take place in Quebec. However, this is not the case in all parts of the country. That is why the Criminal Code must be revised. This addition will allow athletes to legally practise this sport. Ultimately, the addition will eliminate grey areas.
As is my custom, I have taken eight instead of 10 minutes. I submit this respectfully.