Thank you, Chair.
I really appreciate taking part in committee today and the discussion, especially hearing what I think are some pretty positive opinions about Canada's lobbying registry, Canada's ethics regulations, and Canada's being a global leader and having very strong ethics and lobbying regulations already in place. Of course, we're always interested in what can be improved.
Part of the question, for me, is the ongoing evolution of how governments and elected officials are influenced, or attempts are made to influence them, to reach one decision or another. Two of those kind of come together. We've talked a little about it, in terms of social media and foreign influence. I want to bring those together and ask a question about that.
What we're seeing is a whole ecosystem of social media, so-called influencers, whose purpose is not conveying news or their opinion. It's to influence public policy and elected officials. Oftentimes, what we've seen is that they are funded by corporate interests, or even occasionally, foreign interests.
We've seen that in the United States, where there have been social media influencers attempting to influence government policy who were funded by foreign adversaries.
My question for the witnesses is, can they comment on where they see the evolution of lobbying going? How can we make sure that those undue influences are appropriately managed, so that Canadians have the transparency they deserve?