Even earlier--and there's a certain amount of frustration when your predecessor asks for further studies.
It's my experience here that it's a lot easier to work with a concrete proposal. It doesn't mean the committee accepts everything. Maybe that's the way you want us to do it, Mr. Chairman--draft our own bill and critique it ourselves. I don't know.
I hope Mr. Reid or his people will also have an opportunity to ask you very precise questions, because they're living with this on a daily basis, and have for a long time. I'm not saying that his draft bill would have been perfect, but maybe we should work on it as our starting point, in order to get concrete in the way Mr. Martin is insisting we do.
We could certainly have the minister back for more precise comments on the exact wording, rather than us throwing these balls up and, as Mr. Martin says, trying to count angels on the head of a pin. We could be much more helpful by working in precisely that manner. Obviously that's not what the minister wants us to do, so I invite your comments.