Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his contribution to today's debate. I welcome him to the House and to the justice committee. I also thank him for his support of this important bill.
The question I want to raise was touched upon in my opening remarks, but I think it is important for the context of the debate here.
We are dealing with federally appointed superior court judges. Obviously, the front lines of most of the criminal law work in Canada is actually at the provincial court. The court in the province that the member and I share is the Ontario court, and each province around the country has its court. This is where most sexual assault complainants and survivors will have their interaction with the justice system.
I have a general point, which is that we are trying to lead by example at the federal level, but we cannot impose the same sort of mandatory training requirements on the provincial sphere, at the provincial level of government with provincial court judges.
Given the member's strong commitment and conviction with respect to the importance of this bill, would he join with us in the overall work with provincial governments to encourage them to follow suit? Thus far, the only province that has followed suit is P.E.I., and it stands alone among the territories and provinces in terms of requiring this type of training.