Hon. Marilou McPhedran: I have a question. Will Senator Omidvar take it?

Senator Omidvar: Of course.

Senator McPhedran: Thank you so much for your work on this bill.

In the event that this bill is not passed rapidly, before we rise, what will be the most obvious consequence of it not passing this chamber?

Senator Omidvar: I will state again — and thank you, Senator McPhedran, for your question — lives will be at risk. Babies will die. Women will be at risk. They will have no food, no shelter, no protection. It is a matter of lives saved today rather than not saved.

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Senator Plett, would you take a question from me?

Senator McPhedran: As a point of clarification, Senator Plett, how do we regulate this when you give a specific example about an acceptable limit of physical contact or physical punishment that happens in the privacy of a home or other location where the recipient of those two slaps, for example, has no power, no voice and no way of getting beyond that private situation?

Senator McPhedran: Thank you very much. It is a short question, and something that troubled me for many years and I want to share it with you.

How is it that we, as lawmakers, can justify that physical assault from any one of us as an adult against another adult is illegal, but a similar level of assault by a parent against a child is legal in Canada and would continue to be so if we don’t follow through on this bill?