I do not have difficulty with the first two parts of the amendment; however, with the third part I do.
There is no inference in the committee dealing with the issue at hand expeditiously that we don't have confidence in the commissioner herself. Absolutely we do have confidence in the commissioner; that's why we have her appear before us to testify. In her testimony she made it clear that it's not an issue of the commissioner, it's an issue of the act. The act does not even include the word “ethics”, although her title does. She made it quite clear, and I've already read it into the record, that she wonders whether her abilities extend at all to be able to deal with the issue. She's obviously going to look at it.
Having the commissioner say that she doesn't have the confidence that the act allows her to look into this puts the onus on us. We can't slough it off, especially after the commissioner has stated quite clearly that she doesn't believe the act's mandate allows her to act on this.
I'd just like to make it clear that we have absolute confidence, but at the same time we have an absolute responsibility to the taxpayers of Canada to look into this matter and to do it in an expeditious fashion. I liked the first two parts because I think they provided greater clarity to the motion. Unfortunately, I would not be able to agree to the third component of the amendment.