Of course they should have that, Mr. Speaker. This section of the Criminal Code does that. This section protects all individuals performing religious services. It makes a specific reference to anyone who might try to disrupt a religious service.

I have never heard of anyone ever having a problem with this section. If we sit down with people and talk to them about different possibilities of a disturbance or anything like that, many would agree on the seriousness of anybody disrupting a religious service or threatening somebody who practises his or her religion.

The member mentioned the motion. We heard again and again how concerned the Liberals were about people having the right to practise their religion without fear, without hate, without prejudice, without any disruption whatsoever. Therefore, I was surprised when I picked up the bill. After the Queen, this is one of the first things the Liberals wanted to get rid of. I do not get it, getting rid of the specific protection that our head of state has. What is the problem with that?

The timing of this is terrible in my opinion. It is the 65th anniversary of the Queen's reign, and now members decide to get rid of the specific protection that is accorded to her. However, the other section is the only area of the Criminal Code that specifically delineates religious services and those who perform those religious services. Why would they get rid of it? I wanted to have a motion here to have these separated. I hope the Liberals will reconsider this.

I think there is great consensus on a lot of the different sections in here. A lot of the sections make the Criminal Code gender neutral. A lot of the sections update the wording and get rid of sections that have long had no relevance. Most important, the area with respect to sexual consent and the other laws, like the rape shield laws, are extremely important. The Liberals should have had this as a separate bill rather than toss this all into it, but we on this side of the House do not run the show.

Again, I have invited my colleagues to mention it to their constituents and ask them how they feel about the Liberal Party getting rid of the section that protects people in the practice of their religion. I am going to look forward to getting some feedback from them in the fall.

Rob Nicholson

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