I’m not entirely sure what the age of sexual consent in the US is these days — is it 17? 18? I’m sure it’s not 14 though:

Most Canadians would probably be shocked to learn that the current age of consent is 14. Even more outrageous is the fact that a 14-year-old can legally have sex with a person 10, 20 or even 30 years older (providing the person is not in a position of trust or authority).

Look for MySpace.com and NAMBLA to announce plans to move their world headquarters to Canada in the very near future.

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The newly elected Conservative Party is trying to raise the minimum age of consent to 16 — but wants to also add language to the legistlation that would allow for a 5-year age gap exemption. In other words, a 14 year old girl could still have sex with her boyfriend, provided he’s not older than 19. Lydia Lovric of The Winnipeg Sun thinks that the gap should be tightened to 3 years:

The proposed legislation is a step in the right direction, but falls short. So Harper’s Conservatives get one thumb up and one thumb down. That’s a lot better than the two fingers I gave the Liberals when they were in office.

I’m inclined to agree with Ms. Lovric — I don’t think that high school kids should be criminialized for having consensual sex with each other, but I think that a 3-year age gap would be more appropriate than a 5 year gap.