Mr. Speaker, I would ask the hon. member if there may be some common ground in the important aspects of domestic violence she indicated in the first and second parts of her speech, which are a priority for her side of the House.
What I would put to her is that this legislation proposes important changes in respect to domestic violence and intimate partner violence, by expanding the definition so that it does not just cover violence by a spouse but also by a dating partner or a former spouse; increasing the maximum sentence for those convicted of intimate partner violence; and, indeed reversing the onus on bail for those repeat offenders.
In fact, the changes we are making to preliminary inquiries would eliminate the likelihood that a woman in a sexual assault trial is victimized twice. By removing the preliminary inquiry, we will no longer have sexual assault victims testifying twice, in both the prelim and the trial process.
Is the member encouraged to see those kinds of changes when she puts the rights of victims of sexual assault and intimate partner violence at the heart of the legislation?