Porn in Manitoba

The Manitoba legislature is set to debate a Private Members Resolution today. This resolution – which is similar in process to a Private Member’s Motion in Ottawa – is sponsored by James Teitsma, the MLA for the Radisson constituency in the east end of Winnipeg. It deals with the issue of online pornography, and calls on the Legislature to “condemn the ease of access children and youth have to violent and degrading content in sexual explicit material online and… call on the Federal Government to pass legislation requiring meaningful age verification on adult web content.” Teitsma says this is about creating a united front across party lines that they don’t want the federal government “just to study this issue; we want them to take concrete action.”

The resolution mirrors a motion presented in Ottawa late last year by Peace River/Westlock MP Arnold Viersen, which resulted in the House of Commons Health Committee launching a study into the issue. Teitsma is hoping that this idea catches on across the country. “While the Committee for Public Health is studying this issue as they were required by Motion 47, we’re going to be able to create a national consensus around the need for concrete action.”

We’ll let you know next week whether the resolution passed in Manitoba.