If you look at what it used to be.... When I left politics, if you were a minister, there was a two-year ban. If you were a parliamentary secretary, there was a one-year ban, but it applied to files that you had handled in your portfolio. Maybe that was setting the bar too low. When you go to a five-year ban on all activities, the challenge you face is that it's very hard to back away from this stuff. It's very hard to step away from that without giving the impression you have lowered the bar. There are all kinds of stories about former political staffers—even in the current environment—who go into the government relations industry. You are absolutely right.
If all I do is work out a strategy for companies and I never engage in registerable activity, I am not covered by this. It's a free country, and I can do whatever I want. The restriction is only on actions that would require a registration. In my view, I think five years is too much. Or actually, I should be arguing for ten years to keep more people out of this profession and drive up my wage. For the people I deal with—defeated MPs—it just takes a realistic option right off the table in terms of post-political employment. There is a process for reducing that. I notice that is posted, and that seems to be working. If somebody thinks they weren't in the office long enough to be covered, they get a fair hearing, and in some cases they get that waived. That may be a problem that fixes itself.