Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I would like to open with my regrets to the witnesses who've made themselves available to the committee and for whom I'm sure it's very frustrating to sit through a lengthy debate on a subject that is not about the pre-budget consultations that they prepared for.
Mr. Hallan, you've introduced your motion with a lengthy introduction that I don't think I will rebut, word for word, other than to say that we had proposed to strengthen enforcement. We had proposed to strengthen FINTRAC, we had money on the table to finance the Canada financial crimes agency, and the list goes on. When those proposals were before the finance committee, the Conservative members filibustered for 20-plus hours.
I would also note that it was this government that suggested and included in the programming motion the anti-money laundering review that we will be undertaking, and I look forward to that study. I would agree with the suggestion that my colleague Mr. Davies has now proposed to extend that study. We are open on the government side to extending it by two or three meetings, depending on the list of witnesses that we agree to.
I, for one, had questions for the witnesses who are still here, and I could prepare amendments to this motion. As everybody realizes around this table, there is agreement of a majority of members between Mr. Davies and colleagues on the government side. If you would like, and if it is the will of the committee, I can prepare those amendments and submit them to the clerk before the end of the meeting, hopefully today, and we can continue with questions. Alternatively, Mr. Chair, I'm happy to go through the amendments now.
It does appear to me, therefore, that we will not get back to witness questioning. Mr. Chair, I could read them into the record if you like, but I would also like to point out that I am in agreement with my colleague opposite regarding the importance of listening, first and foremost, to OSFI, as well as Bank of Canada officials.