Thank you for your indulgence. I just want to explain the reason for the subamendment as it relates to the original amendment. During the time we had witnesses coming forward, they were talking about the fact that--including the Auditor General, for that matter--there wasn't a requirement to have the scope and the reach of the Auditor General to our first nations people.
I think it's really important that we underline the relationship here. This isn't like an agency, a board, a commission; this is a very different kind of relationship, constitutional in nature. I think when you look at the track record--and I go back to my comments before about what was the intent of this bill, what in fact are we doing here. When we were talking about the sponsorship scandal, when we were talking about the concerns around accountability, the concerns people had weren't around first nations.
I should add that when you look at what first nations are doing, the Assembly of First Nations has come forward and they're putting their own processes in place. It would be an act of redundancy, in effect. So what we have put forward is this amendment to make sure that there are no unintended consequences by removing this part and to make sure that the respect of first nations and the relationship we have continues. Therefore, that's why this amendment has been put forward, and I would ask my colleagues on all sides for support.