Mr. Speaker, this motion is definitely in line with a number of other initiatives the government has taken to reduce the incidence of violence against women. In particular, we have initiated programs to protect temporary foreign workers, for example, who have been abused or refugees who have been found to have been abused by their new spouses. We are trying very hard to make sure that vulnerable women and girls are not taken advantage of in this way.
When the member mentioned the opposition, it brought to mind something the member for Papineau said before he was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. That was that words like “barbaric” should not be used to describe honour killings, forced marriages, or female genital mutilation, because those words are unnecessarily jarring and pejorative.
I would disagree strongly with that, as I think many members of this House would, as would the government. Our actions speak for themselves.
This motion closes a loophole in the immigration system for abuse and for those who wish to propagate what I would say are indeed barbaric practices.