Thank you very much.
First of all, I want to express my appreciation to all those members and their party House leaders who were willing to facilitate the speedy passage of this through unanimous adoption at second reading. Particularly, I have been concerned because I know it was a leap of faith for Senator Banks, the Liberal senator who originated this bill, to entrust it to a member of an opposite party to carry forward in the House. I take that responsibility extremely seriously—as I do all of my responsibilities, but as a personal obligation to Senator Banks—so I'm happy to get this through before anyone springs any surprise elections on us, if possible.
Senator Banks was also good enough to prepare some briefing material. I don't know where his original material went, but I had one copy left and I have simply photocopied it, although some of the photocopies may have some of my notes on them, which you can feel free to disregard.
Essentially, this bill amends two previous statutes, in particular the Federal Sustainable Development Act and also the Auditor General Act.
In the main, this Bill S-210, which was formerly Bill S-216, is intended to do two things: first, to replace previous references that were only to the House with references that would include both the House and the Senate; and second, to allow for the filing of the sustainable development commissioner's response to the federal sustainable development strategy not only on an annual basis but also at other times during the year, including, for example, when the Auditor General and the sustainable development commissioner render their annual reports—and as well, I think I can say, when other reports filed by the federal sustainable development commissioner or Auditor General are being delivered. This just gives him more flexibility as to when he wishes to respond to the government's federal sustainable development strategy and make the reports that are necessary for him in that regard.
I could certainly go through it clause by clause, if you wish, but that is what it is in the main. It's not very controversial, and I hope it will be receiving the support of the members of this committee.