Just for clarity on the record, the recommendation comes from Dr. German, about lawyers' trust accounts; and I look forward to reading his report about why he has identified this as an issue in British Columbia.
I have raised this issue with the Law Society of British Columbia. I've been advised that it is very engaged on this issue, and I'm sure it would be happy to provide information to the committee about the work it is doing on this point. It is something that is raised repeatedly internationally, as well as in the media in British Columbia, especially in relation to the situation where you have a company, with a lawyer as the sole director, that owns property. There's a lack of transparency around property ownership, for example. I think there is definitely opportunity for us to improve pieces around this. I look forward to working with our law society around that.
If this committee has any concerns about lawyers and their involvement or alleged involvement in any kind of unsavoury activity—lawyers do have an obligation not to be dupes of criminals and not to use their trust accounts for illegal purposes—I would be glad to have that information and raise it, in my role, as a bencher for the law society. I don't have that information yet, but I'd be glad to hear from the committee about any concerns that you have about it. I believe you'll find the law society of B.C. to be very forthcoming if you have concerns that you want to raise with it.