Particularly important to all stakeholders and to the public is that the bill expressly articulates the purposes of the conduct regime, including a code of conduct that emphasizes the importance of maintaining the public trust and the high standard of conduct expected of members, establishing a process for dealing with contraventions in a fair and consistent manner at the most appropriate level and for the imposition of measures that are proportionate to the nature and circumstances of the contravention and, where appropriate, are educative and remedial rather than punitive.

Indeed, when I was Minister of Justice, the first piece of legislation I introduced on behalf of the government at the time was Bill C-2, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (protection of children and other vulnerable persons) and the Canada Evidence Act, which became law in July 2005, and which, among other things, enhanced the Criminal Code with respect to sexual offences against children, failure to provide the necessities of life, and abandonment of children.

While considering that the responsibility for the control and surveillance of external borders lies with the Member States, the Agency, as a body of the Union as defined in Article 15 and in accordance with Article 19 of this Regulation, shall facilitate and render more effective the application of existing and future Union measures relating to the management of external borders, in particular the Schengen Borders Code established by Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 . It shall do so by ensuring the coordination of the actions of the Member States in the implementation of those measures, thereby contributing to an efficient, high and uniform l ...[+++]evel of control on persons and of surveillance of the external borders of the Member States.

PRIORITY 5: support for effective and efficient application of relevant Community legal instruments in the field of external borders and visas, in particular the Schengen Borders Code and the European Code on Visas

These petitioners request that Parliament not amend the human rights code, the Canadian Human Rights Act or the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in any which would tend to indicate societal approval of same sex relationships or of homosexuality, including amending the human rights code to include in the prohibitive grounds of discrimination the undefined phrase sexual orientation.

The Canadian Human Rights Act, which is our authorizing law, does not make any mention of the international human rights instruments, although one or two of the provincial codes may make such mention - Ontario for one - but ours does not.