Thank you.
I just want to go back to what we have in place right now with the counsellor. The evidence that was brought forward to this committee is that right now she actually isn't prepared to take in anything. She's in the midst of putting together her regime and regulations.
In fact, I asked her if EDC was obviously supporting a company, so it is well known, and there is a concern about a company, would EDC be compelled to cooperate with her? She didn't know because they're still developing the process.
In fact, she couldn't tell us when the process would actually get going. I just lay that on the table because there's an impression that this is up and running and that we have a process. In fact, right now we have none. Yet we still have concerns, which we've all talked about.
Where many people have seen this bill going—and the limitations of a private member's bill are known by all of us, and certainly by you, Mr. Peterson, as a former member of Parliament. If this bill was brought in, I think it's reasonable to say that an enlightened thing to do would be to do what the round table and witnesses from industry asked for, and that would be to have an objective third-party--an ombudsperson/ombudsman--appointed. I'm looking for a bridge to that common ground.
My question is, Mr. Peterson, would you not see that putting an ombudsman in place, as was recommended in the round table discussions by both civil society and by business, was a smart thing to do, that it could actually deal with some of the concerns you have regarding Bill C-300?