Senator BOLKUS(6.39 p.m.) —With respect to the opposition's position, one of the things I was really pleased to do as minister in this area was streamline the area with respect to particularly interdependency cases. So I have been concerned that the government is imposing these sorts of measures and in fact overriding the operation of the SDA with respect to this.

The opposition's position has evolved through discussions with the government, and I must say it has been made a lot easier because of the government's preparedness to cut back the period from two years to one and also to invest a discretion in the minister or delegated officer to waive such a requirement in circumstances where, for instance, a country's laws prohibit such cohabitation. That was one of the concerns raised before the Senate committee and reflected in the report of the committee on this bill. So those two measures make it somewhat easier for us to accept a measure which, in principle, we would have enormous difficulty in accepting.