What I will say is that the last bill was introduced in 2001, so it's been 12 years, right? Before that, the Department of Finance had followed, for a few years, the process of bringing bills forward on a more regular basis. Then this came along.
I'd say there are a lot of reasons why it's taken...and it's not just process. There are a lot of individual reasons why it's taken a long time to get this bill before Parliament. Some parts of this bill, earlier versions of it, were highly controversial in the taxpayer community. With the foreign investment entity rules and the non-resident trust rules, people were concerned about how broadly they applied.
Gabe has talked about the important role of the joint committee in providing input. The joint committee spent a lot of time on it.
To some extent, then, I would say that the community faced with the earlier decision of “Would you have liked to have seen earlier versions of this passed in a different form?” might well have said no. They might have said they'd prefer to see whether the legislation could be improved.
To Finance's credit, they heard all of that. There was a lot of consultation.
I mean, the other part, and you guys know this much better than I do, was that it was a turbulent time in Parliament. This bill was about to be passed, and Parliament was prorogued once and Parliament was dissolved once.
So I think there's joint responsibility around the table. I think our answer to Ms. Nash's question about trying to have more of a timetable is a good way forward. And I encourage you just to study the bill.