Senator Gold: Thank you for the question and for the opportunity to clarify my intention and clear up what may be my infelicitous language.

I will repeat that I was at pains to respect the work of the committee and the input of the witnesses who were called. What I was trying to say in the passage to which you referred, and I was talking about the exploitation of children, was that the victims who were exploited, whether in countries far away, don’t have the opportunity to speak.

Senator Jaffer and colleagues, I chose my words carefully. I’ve laid out the government’s reason for why it chose the standard that it did and I’ve made the case as best as I could — as Senator Boniface did, even more eloquently than I — so that the record reflects the government’s rationale for doing this.

I respect the work of the committee and I will respect the decision of the Senate when we get to third reading. You will note that I said nothing about — my words speak for themselves. I wanted to put on the record the government’s position. The government continues to believe that a lower standard is justifiable and constitutional, but it also respects contrary opinions — whether of witnesses and certainly of the committee. When we proceed to third-reading vote later this week, as I understand we will, I will be satisfied, as the Government Representative, that the Senate has done its job. Whatever the results of that third-reading vote, I expect that our work will be taken seriously in the other place, as it should be.