By John-Henry Westen and Hilary White
OTTAWA, May 7, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A bill to raise the age of sexual consent in Canada from its current 14 years to 16 passed the House of Commons Friday night. Interestingly, the voice vote as recorded by Hansard indicated that those opposed to the bill seemed to be in the majority according to the Speaker’s verdict.
Parliamentary sources informed LifeSiteNews.com, however, that the vote was considered passed after some backroom negotiations with the NDP which opposed the measure. According to the Hansard record, more than five members of parliament disputed the Speaker’s verdict on the nay vote, and a recorded vote was to be held today.
The bill now goes to the Senate and if it passes there it will receive Royal Assent before being enacted. Senate passage however is not assured as the opposition Liberals retain a majority in the unelected Senate.
The legislation would increase the legal age for heterosexual activity from 14, one of the lowest in the developed world, to 16. However, it will also carry a so-called “near-in-age exception” that will allow teenagers to engage in ‘consensual’ sex below the legal age limit with persons within 5 years of their age.
Joe Comartin, an NDP MP, at the behest of homosexual activist groups, attempted to add to the bill a provision that would see the age of consent for sodomy be reduced to the age of 16 from 18. The Justice committee rejected such amendments.
Comartin, is now attempting to eliminate the requirement of an age of consent for anal sex altogether. In a private members bill introduced Wednesday Comartin seeks to strike down the Criminal Code clause restricting anal sex to those 18 and over.