When I was engaged as parliamentary secretary of foreign affairs, the government did an exhaustive round table conference on corporate social responsibility. We came up with some of the best solutions. Every stakeholder was involved in that--NGOs, mining companies, everybody else. Two major points have come out. Of course, the counsellor was voluntary. However, the centre for excellence has also come out to ensure that Canadian companies and everybody else go through the centre of excellence to promote CSR.
What I don't understand from the Liberal side here is why they will not let that process carry forward and see what will happen. Maybe if that process hasn't evolved after two years into what some of the concerns are, then I could understand them bringing this. To bring it at this stage, now, when a process has already been put into place, and to move ahead, after everybody's agreed that that is the best thing for Canada, is something that beats me.
Mr. Peterson, you were the minister. I can tell you, if you were the government today, you would have never brought this bill here again. If there were a Liberal government today--it's only a minority government, but if there were a majority Liberal government today, which we hope we don't have--I can tell you that this bill would never have seen the light of day. This is only playing politics because there is a minority situation.
Let's just say--I hope all of you agree--that there is a process. The government has just put in a centre of excellence and everything as a cooperative effort to work towards improving Canada's reputation in the mining industry.
We all know what China is doing. China is all over Africa. Who's asking China to have corporate social responsibility? Nobody, as you all pointed out. It's us. But China is everywhere else.
My point, if anybody wants to comment, is to let the process that is there now carry on and then we'll see from there the evolution.