Madam Chair, I want to first thank my colleague for seeing how forms of violence such as patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour are often a precursor to overt physical violence.
The member for Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke has put forward a bill to make this kind of behaviour a criminal offence, which would allow earlier intervention by police, courts and service organizations, without having to wait for violent incidents to take place. Does my colleague see that legislation like this would be really important in preventing violence against women?