Foreign Affairs committee  Well, you know, I think you will find quite a range of legal views on that, separate from Mr. Janda's. I would hope that you're going to hear from other legal entities. I'm not a lawyer--

Foreign Affairs committee  --so I'm not going to argue that point. Certainly it's an issue that our members are concerned about. It's also why in the round table report there was a platform to come together and work out the details. And even, what's the definition of frivolous and vexatious? I can go to

Foreign Affairs committee  Just go to subclause 4(6). It says “eight months”.

Foreign Affairs committee  You're going to have a timeline when you have to complete an investigation.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's an either/or: you're either in compliance or you're not in compliance.

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, ideally, but you--

Foreign Affairs committee  That's fair to say.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's black and white in the sense that you're either in compliance or out of compliance, and you're using as your standard for compliance the IFC guidelines for the most part, which, as I said, have been written to be quite general and allow for a good margin of interpretation, b

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I will. We can come up with some specific answers.

Foreign Affairs committee  Just where placed?

Foreign Affairs committee  The round table wanted it at arm's-length.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll just go back to subclause 4(4), if you want specifics. Eight months to deliver in subclause 4(6)--but what are the powers of examination and cross-examination of witnesses outside of Canada?

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll answer the second question first. No, we were not consulted. I don't think you can use the fact that we participated in the round table as a proxy for that consultation. From our perspective, this is not in keeping with the round table outcomes. I don't know why not. I'm not

Foreign Affairs committee  We think the government response is directionally correct—it's what we need. The Government of Canada now supports the extractive industries transparency initiative, which was a round table recommendation. The government also supports the voluntary principles on security and huma

Foreign Affairs committee  Let me make a general comment, and I'm not a lawyer. We had lots of legal discussion at the round table and at various points in our hearings across the country. Common law is evolving, and there are accountabilities. Ms. Coumans referred to several instances of companies in cour