Protecting Children

February 15, 2008

As more and more children spend more of their time online, they risk attracting predators who try to use the anonymity of the internet to target vulnerable young people.

This week police in Ontario arrested 22 people and broke up a ring of online sexual predators who had been targeting children. It is a sobering reminder to parents throughout Canada of the dangers that exist out there.

While the best protection against online sexual predators is through the vigilance of parents themselves, the Conservative Government is also doing all that it can to help.

That is why the Conservative Government is contributing $2 million to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a charitable organization that works to protect children from sexual exploitation by helping the police pursue leads, raising public awareness and providing more education for kids and families.

The Conservative Government is also providing more funding for the RCMP to combat child sexual exploitation and are raising the age of sexual consent to ensure that 14 and 15 year old kids are protected from sexual predators.

Unfortunately the age of consent law is currently being held up by unaccountable Liberal Senators who seem content to use these child-protection laws as just one more political football.

New laws to protect our children from sexual predators should never be used in these kinds of partisan political games. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Government will always stand clearly on the side of kids and families. It is up to Stéphane Dion and the Liberal Senators to do the same.