Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is late in the life of this Assembly to begin grappling with the problem of violence and finding some proposal to change people's behaviours. After racking up thousands and thousands of words about what is right, what we should do and so on, it is good to see people suddenly taking an interest in accountability, trying to do something to solve the problem.

I would like to point out that one of the graces of an Assembly like this -- and they exist throughout the world -- is that we try to resolve our problems through reason, argument, and persuasion and so on, but we don't put fists and boots to people if they don't agree with us. So, if we are going to suddenly confine our activities to doing something about what we call family violence, how do you define it? How far are you going to go? As far as I am concerned, if you decide to solve your problems with your boots or your fists, whether it is in a bar, on the streets or in the house, that is not the way to solve problems. I learned that when I was a very young man, especially when you get beaten once or twice.

I would say that the civilized way in which we do business, if we are going to really seriously look at this and really look at the issue of violence, we have to look in totality at the way we solve our problems and not just simply limit it to what may or may not happen inside the walls of somebody's house. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause