A Conservative MP's attempt to raise the age of consent has failed, with a resounding defeat in the House of Commons.

When Conservative MP Rick Casson's bill was put to a vote Wednesday night, 99 parliamentarians voted in favour of increasing the minimum age of consent for sex by two years, to 16.

Another 167 MPs voted against the bill.

Under existing law, 14-year-olds can legally have sex in Canada. Casson wanted the minimum age raised to 16, in the hope that increasing the scope of the law would protect children from sexual predators.

The Lethbridge, Alberta MP had the support of his fellow Conservatives, as well as several members of the Liberal Party.

"I support it basically on the important principle that people need to be protected," Liberal MP Maurizo Bevilacqua told CTV News ahead of the vote.

And Liberal MP Dan McTeague agreed, criticizing the existing law for doing little to protect young teenagers from sexual exploitation.

"If two young people are engaged, that's fine, but my concern is when a 40-year-old and a 14-year-old is involved," McTeague said.

But in the end, their support was not enough to carry the bill.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler was among the proposed law's most outspoken critics. He said Casson's legislation -- if it became the law of the land -- would not only do little to stop predators, it would also criminalize so-called "puppy love."

And that's a step he was not prepared to take.

"We don't want to criminalize innocent sexual behaviour among teenagers and young people," Cotler said.

Casson had hoped that hurdle could be overcome by close-in-age exemptions for young people born within three or four years of each other.

According to the Attorney General, however, the Criminal Code and the pending Bill C-2 already before Parliament offers adequate protection for children.