Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We thank the committee for inviting us, and we're grateful to the House of Commons for undertaking this very worthy initiative. We appreciate the initiative of the official opposition for moving this comprehensive motion and the initiative of the Liberal Party leader in coming forward with suggestions for more transparency.
We also hearken back to the Federal Accountability Act of 2006, which we think provides a template. We think this is the most important scandal-fighting initiative ever adopted in Canada, and we think it provides a strong template for future reform.
We applauded in 2006 the initiatives taken by the government in the wake of the sponsorship scandal, and our 84,000 supporters, who very regularly communicate with all of your offices, have a keen interest in seeing the practices of both houses of Parliament updated, modernized, and reformed. We'd like to play a constructive role with all of you in making this happen, and we have a few suggestions that follow on the initiatives of the Accountability Act.
It's important to quickly review a couple of those important initiatives: the creation of the office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer; the establishment of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions; beefing up of the powers of the Auditor General and the Ethics Commissioner; and the expanded protections for whistle-blowers.
I know it's all the way back to 2006, but it's important to remember that these key reforms that we take for granted today were initiated by this government as its first act in office. So what we're calling on the government now to do, and all parties in the House, is to continue to embrace the spirit of those reforms and bring some of those reforms home to the House of Commons. Perhaps, through your initiative, you can set a good example for your colleagues in the Senate as well.