I would like to thank our witnesses for their presentations today.
I must admit that I am especially interested in this issue. When I read the Ethics Commissioner's decision, I arranged to meet with him to express my disagreement, without talking about it with other groups concerned, such as the parliamentary internship programme, the PIP, or the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, or CIJA.
I think that the commissioner's interpretation is wrong and that it will take away from young Canadians the opportunity to have an extraordinary experience on Parliament Hill. Organizations such as the PIP and CIJA, among a number of others, are doing whatever they can to ensure that their interns are non-partisan. That is extremely important. Their interns are doing exceptional work. They are also not the only ones. There are many of them.
I don't usually reveal the content of my conversations, but the commissioner gave me some advice. According to him, since I am a member, I can have the legislation amended if I want and if I can convince my colleagues of my point of view.
What changes do our witnesses think we should make to the legislation to enable those kinds of clearly non-partisan activities that give young people an extraordinary experience?