I appreciate that. We do know that. Just to be clear...because now we get into, well, we've got the Criminal Code so we don't have to do it anymore. No one took them out. They haven't gone back and amended them or removed them. Maybe the government wants to do that. I don't know. I would suggest that they shouldn't.
In any case, I appreciate, Mr. Bouwer, the explanation about CFIA and the procedure. That's helpful because it was strictly a technical question. I recognize that if you thought it was imperative to have that in the act, you would have done it. I absolutely believe that to be true. This isn't a question of what you feel. It's simply a technical thing, and I appreciate the clarification. It's very helpful.
Let me end, Chair, by saying that the reason we brought forward the amendments was to enhance a piece of legislation that we believe in. We said we would do it in an expeditious and thorough way based on the timeline that we thought needed to occur, and we've done that. I'll let my friends across the way have the final decision on whether they believe that to be true or not. But we did say we would do this in a way that would be fair, reasonable, and quick. We have done that and we have not been obstructionist. As the official opposition, we've brought forward, in our view—and Mr. Valeriote will obviously speak for himself—what we believe to be concrete and positive suggestions that were helpful.
With that, Chair, I'm ever hopeful. It may just be the Scotsman in me, living in that country where it rains a lot and when it's sunny it's always a miraculous day in the world. Perhaps my friends across the way, in this last instance, will decide that there's merit in voting for the amendment rather than not.
Chair, let me just say to you, sir—because time will probably run out quickly and we won't get to say this—thank you for your guidance through this, and my thanks to my friends who were here to help.
This is a new procedure for the agriculture committee. We don't do legislation very often. In fact, it's highly unusual for us to do legislation. Let me thank Madame Adair, Monsieur Bouwer, and Madame Barnes for their interventions and help and explanations as we worked through this. They were extremely gratifying. I didn't necessarily always agree as to where it should happen, but we certainly agree that the legislation is needed, and we appreciate all of the hard work that went into crafting it and for helping us work through it. We look forward to working with you in the future.
To my colleagues, you have one last opportunity to say yea.
