Promising the world's most sweeping legislation, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has introduced a revamped bill aimed at protecting vulnerable Canadians from sexual exploitation, abuse and neglect.

The proposed legislation includes six major amendments to Canada's Criminal Code and the Canada Evidence Act:

• Broadening the definition of child pornography, creating a new prohibition against advertising child pornography, and increasing maximum penalties;
• Creating a new sexual exploitation offence aimed at better protecting people between the ages of 14 and 18;
• Using new aids to facilitate testimony from child victims and witnesses;
• Protecting other vulnerable persons, including women, with new testimonial aids and increased enforcement of restraining orders;
• Creating two new voyeurism offences;
• And reducing the number of applicable defences to one.

Cotler says the new proposal has more teeth than previous legislation.

Addressing a news conference in Ottawa on Friday, he said the final point means those accused under the new law would only have recourse to a "legitimate purpose defence."

In line with direction from the Supreme Court, Cotler said that means someone accused of creating child pornography, for example, would have to demonstrate a legitimate use for it.

"The new defence will only be available if the act in question has a legitimate purpose... related to the administration of justice, science, medicine education and art," Cotler explained.

"And the act does not pose an undue risk to children."

When reporters pressed the minister to explain whether that meant accused child pornographers would still have recourse to an artistic merit defence, he said that would only be possible if it was deemed to have a "legitimate purpose."

Otherwise, Cotler said, it will be up to the courts to decide whether a particular case meets the criteria of child pornography.

"The legislation broadens the definition of child pornography," Cotler said. "It will now include both written material and audio formats... that describe prohibited sexual activity with children where that description is a predominant characteristic of the work and is done for a sexual purpose."

Active on the Liberal agenda for close to 10 years, child pornography legislation introduced by Jean Chretien's government in 2002 died in the Senate, when the writ was dropped on the last election.

On the campaign trail last spring, Conservative candidates accused Prime Minister Paul Martin of being soft on child pornography.

The proposed legislation is just one of 11 bills the Liberals have promised to introduce, one day after narrowly averting a confidence vote.

According to House Leader Tony Valeri, the Liberals are assured the minority government can function effectively, and are going ahead with plans to table as many as three dozen new bills in the coming months.