Feb 09, 06
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Raising the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...Story/National
I thought this was an interesting piece of news, not that it matters to me, but more as an example of government in action.
Quote:
OTTAWA -- Justice Minister Vic Toews says reform of the justice system will begin shortly after the House returns in April, and one of the first items on his agenda will be increasing the age of sexual consent.
"One of the issues that I would like to see brought forward as quickly as possible is the age of protection, raising that from 14 to 16, and looking at, of course, bringing in a close-in-age exemption," Mr. Toews told reporters after the first caucus meeting of the new governing Conservative party.
"We don't want to criminalize consenting sexual conduct between youth. We want to protect young people from adult sexual predators."
Raising the age of consent is an issue that has been pushed hard by socially right-wing lobby groups such as the Canada Family Action Coalition. It has also been the focus of private members' bills entered by other members of the Tory caucus.
If Mr. Toews is successful, he will go some small distance toward satisfying those supporters who look to his party for action on the small-c conservative social agenda. That group may have been feeling some frustration after being told that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not initiate action on abortion and would accept any outcome of a free vote in the Commons on same-sex marriage.
If raising the age of consent is done as a stand-alone bill, it could be accomplished fairly quickly, Mr. Toews said. "That's a priority of our government. That's an example of how I would like to proceed."
But former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler said the issue has been taken out of context. Non-consensual sex is assault and is illegal at any age, he said. And it is illegal for young people under 18 to be exploited through pornography, prostitution or in a relationship of trust, authority or dependency.
"We don't want to criminalize consensual sexual activity which can range anywhere from kissing to sexual intercourse among young people," he said.
The appointment of Mr. Toews as Justice Minister is not without controversy. The member from Provencher in Manitoba was attorney-general in his own province before being elected federally, and, last year, he pleaded guilty to the charge of exceeding personal campaign expense limits in the 1999 provincial election.
He has also been criticized for his willingness to use the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution to override court decisions that he considers out of touch with the will of the people.
During the election campaign, for instance, the Liberals distributed excerpts from an interview he did with a U.S. right-wing organization in 2003 in which he said: "We have seen these radical liberal judges who have their own social agenda coming to the bench and forgetting that their responsibility is to interpret the law and not to make law. And so we are very, very concerned about that."
Mr. Toews has also been one of the leaders within his caucus in the fight to restore the traditional definition of marriage, all of which has left him a prime target of denunciation by the social left.
In his first news conference after being sworn in to cabinet, he said he would welcome U.S.-style review hearings for candidates to fill Supreme Court openings, possibly starting with a vacancy that currently needs to be filled. Mr. Toews said yesterday that he would like to move on that appointment as quickly as possible.
Mr. Toews's indications of his plans came as Mr. Harper moved quickly on some of his own, including announcing that party stalwart John Reynolds had been made a member of the Privy Council.
Twenty-six parliamentary secretaries were sworn in yesterday, including Calgary Southwest MP Jason Kenney, who was named to assist Mr. Harper, and James Moore of British Columbia, who will have the tough job of being parliamentary secretary to a Public Works Minister who, as a senator, will be unavailable to take questions in the House.
Rahim Jaffer of Edmonton has been named caucus chairman and Jay Hill of Prince George-Peace River is the Conservative Whip.
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This thread isnt meant to spark debate whether or not it should stay at 14 or whatever, its just a piece of news I found interesting. In the end, nothing will change, the young kids will still have sex with each other. Lets just hope it doesnt start a revolution of 14 and 15 year old boys and girls that want to sex for the sake of breaking a law, thus producing a whole generation of babies that are only a decade and a half older than their parents.
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