Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to both of the witnesses for being here.
Mr. McCandless, I read with interest your article in the May 22 edition of The Hill Times. I found it very useful. I see your remarks today touch on some of that as well, but we've taken some guidance from that.
Mr. Conacher, as always I find your report very helpful, comprehensive, and thorough. We share your view that this is an historic opportunity. You've dedicated most of your life to these issues, and this is possibly the first realistic window of opportunity you're going to have to see some of those things realized, if not all.
I share that view and take some comfort that much of the FAA--incomplete as it is, perhaps, in your view--reads like the NDP's federal election campaign document almost chapter to chapter. So we're excited by this opportunity. Notwithstanding that, I take how valid many of your observations are, and I can assure you that we are working at crafting amendments to address as many of those as is humanly possible. I'm not sure it will be all.
In your introduction, you said one of the things that bothered you most was that the obligation to act with honesty won't find its way into the legislative side of the package. I'd only ask you to consider--if you agree with it--that the absence of an obligation to act with honesty doesn't give someone licence to act dishonestly. There are other regulatory measures and legislation that certainly curb senior politicians or their staff from acting in a blatantly dishonest way that would be illegal, in many senses.
Would reference in the preamble of Bill C-2 to an obligation to act at the highest standard of ethics and honesty satisfy your observations or concerns?