Mr. Simms, I just ask to make a point. This is not the first time that a government has stumbled over the issue we're discussing today, and this applies to governments of all political stripes.
Maybe it would be useful if this committee could offer some technical guidance as to how public servants, when they're preparing public information that could anticipate legislation that has not received final approval by the House of Commons, should phrase themselves to make sure they are in fact being absolutely, precisely accurate.
Is there a form of wording that the committee would recommend for providing information in advance that public servants should use, to make it abundantly clear to Canadians that this is what would happen if the pending legislation were adopted? Maybe even through the use of technology there's some sort of coding that appears on a website that says something like “This information pertains to legislation that has not yet been enacted by the Parliament of Canada.”
It's not just with this issue, but with many issues that have stretched back many years through several parliaments and several governments. Is there a way you would recommend that public servants should all be guided by the same sorts of principles, to make sure the public is accurately informed?