I'm not making excuses for that, but I think it's just important we have that for the record. Thank you.
Mr. Phillips, I'm going to ask you a few questions. I understand that your organization is very supportive of the changes contained in this legislation that would, in fact, impact the federal credit unions. When your organization appeared before the Senate banking, trade and commerce committee, you were especially positive about the changes that will permit federal credit unions to vote with the cooperatives class on the governance of the Canadian Payments Association.
For the benefit of the House, for this committee, I'd like to quote what your representative said: First, we want to note our support for the proposed amendments to sections 9(3)(a) and (b) of the Canadian Payments Act. Placing the federal credit union in the cooperatives class will preserve and strengthen the credit union system representation at the CPA. It will ensure that a federal credit union will be represented by a director, who speaks for the interests of cooperative financial institutions in CPA matters. A strong advocate at the CPA is important for the credit union system's ability to advocate on behalf of credit unions and to continue to operate payments facility efficiently and cost effectively, which has a direct impact on overall credit union system competitiveness.
Would you elaborate further on how this measure will benefit credit unions?