Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for being here today.
I'd like to address with you the question of the “area of jurisdiction” of an organization that regulates the professions.
Mr. Hechter, in your presentation, you named a whole series of regulatory agencies. Obviously, all those agencies are under provincial jurisdiction. The Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants is the only organization that was established by the federal government.
I am increasingly convinced that a large part of the problem is related to jurisdiction. When we talk about jurisdiction, in Quebec, in French, we're often talking about “champ de compétence”. I don't know how that's translated in English, but the expression “champ de compétence” includes a notion of competence. As Mr. Telegdi said, the provinces have regulated professional associations of all kinds for decades. They've developed an efficient infrastructure that operates well. The federal government, under the constitution, is not responsible for regulating the professions. In addition, it has neither the competence nor the knowledge to do so. That can be seen very clearly from the results we've seen.
Shouldn't we instead transfer the regulation of immigration consultants to those who know about it, that is to say the provinces? The act governing the status of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants consists of only a few paragraphs. However, the provincial statutes run to tens, even hundreds of pages. They are much more complex and sophisticated than those few paragraphs mentioning that it is these people who regulate a given field.
Wouldn't it be more efficient to use the existing provincial structures?