Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for coming to give us a short presentation, Mr. Hiebert. As I listen to you, my impression is of a sick patient whom someone has desperately tried to treat with band-aids. Unfortunately, that generally does not cure people, however many band-aids you apply.
My impression is that your bill is badly written and that there are some fundamental holes in it. If we were in school, I would return the copy to the student and tell him not to hand in a rough draft. There are a number of aspects that you have not thought of. The bill has great potential for collateral damage and for a number of failures. It also intrudes into people's lives a great deal.
I wonder if you are aware of the disastrous effects your bill could have on our economy.
Mr. Hiebert, did you think about the disastrous impact that this bill could have on pension plans and, as a result, on our financial markets?
In general, this seems to be a sloppily written bill with an area of unintended consequences.
Let's talk about how the $5,000 reporting mechanism will have an impact on labour trusts, investment firms, and the financial markets. Since the bill requires the public disclosure of previously private contracts, labour trusts will be effectively unable to engage in private equity investments. As a result, how large a shift of labour trust capital out of private equity agreements and venture capital do you expect the bill to result in?