Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's good to see you.
I think there's a misunderstanding or lack of understanding about how a private member's bill takes place and the scope that a private member's bill can have. This is the way we got here. Basically, Bill C-19, Bill C-56 and Bill C-59 were pieces of government legislation that had various changes. Ironically, some of the changes we tried to get in the first set of laws are finally being included in Bill C-59—15 years later. However, many people came here from different institutions and spoke against those changes, quite frankly. When you go back and look at Hansard and the blues, there's been a consistent public outcry for improved competition laws, but there has not been consistency in academia and the private sector with regard to how to do so. That's been the challenge.
This bill is part of what a private member can do after being selected in a lottery system, but legislative issues have to be scoped. They can't include increased funding, taxation and a whole series of other things. Also, we're left with a bill that later on was eclipsed by another piece of legislation, which took some of the ideas of this bill. Here we are today trying to see whether we want to continue to increase competition laws for Canadians. This is the opportunity we have for amending parts of the bill to get some improvements that the Competition Bureau, the commissioner and many others continue to advocate for.
My first question, Mr. Hatfield, is on what you're hearing from the public. If we do not use this opportunity to at least make some improvements to the Competition Act, do you think Canadians would be disappointed? Although it has been raised that we need a more comprehensive process—even the Competition Bureau commissioner mentioned it—we still have tools available in front of us right now. With Parliament winding down, having a bill selected high enough in the Order Paper to try to squeak through in five years, if we last that long.... I'd like to know what your outreach can tell us about public confidence in institutions like the Competition Bureau.