Thank you very much.
I really do appreciate the testimony from these two witnesses. Let me just reassure them that of course we are looking at ways to make sure that we could.... There needs to be an update to the whistle-blower protection act. There have to be changes, which are being brought about. We have an opportunity right in front of us to bring forward some important changes that would be connected with Bill C-290.
With that understanding, I'd like to turn to you, gentlemen, to help us try to improve the act and to make sure that we will have something that can work within the confines, of course, of a private member's bill and the limitations that we have in that. We could see this as a first step toward a government bill that would come to improve the act. Nonetheless, let's take advantage of the opportunity that is in front of us here.
You mentioned, Mr. Hutton, the PSIC and its predecessor, the PSIO. I'm keen on this notion. In the private member's bill, there is an intention to create an intermediary body or to transform the role of the tribunal. It would serve as a sort of way station between the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner and of course a very expensive federal court system, which would be very expensive to the whistle-blower if they were to choose to go down that route, which should be their right.
Would creating this tribunal as a way station diminish the role of the PSIC as you see it? Would that then imply, for those being accused of wrongdoing, that there would be an obligation for government to extend some legal services to them so that they could defend themselves in case they were being wrongfully accused of wrongdoing?