Mr. Speaker, the bill is basically a housekeeping bill to bring this section of the Criminal Code more up-to-date with today's times. The last time this section was updated was in 1934.
This change will affect close to 100,000 Canadians who practise combat sports, not necessarily all at a professional level. Some are at the amateur level. We are not only talking about mixed martial arts. Some of the sports are recognized by the International Olympic Committee, such as karate, judo and tae kwon do. The bill tries to ensure that participants in all of these sports will be governed under a safe environment so that they will not considered to be doing so illegally under the current provisions.
I am hoping that Bill S-209 will merely correct this oversight so that Canada can effectively regulate acceptable combat sports openly. Seeing how the bill is not controversial and is a sensible piece of legislation that clearly addresses a blind spot in the Criminal Code, I look forward to seeing the bill passed and sent expeditiously to committee.