Thank you.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here.
I'd like to thank my colleague Monsieur Savard-Tremblay for bringing forward this motion. I've encountered this issue numerous times in my time here in Ottawa.
I was at the ParlAmericas meeting on the side of the Summit of the Americas meeting last spring in Los Angeles, where I talked to a number of Latin American parliamentarians. A woman representing Chile was there. All she wanted to talk about was Canada's terrible reputation in Chile with regard to mining. There were similar comments from the representative from Guatemala. I've met with indigenous groups here in Ottawa from Colombia who, again, had serious problems with the conduct of Canadian mining companies in Colombia.
With that background, I'd first like to ask Mr. Thomson a question.
He mentioned three recommendations. One of them was to have new legislation to focus on companies that are not acting well now. The second one was to strengthen the ombudsman's role. Those are two things that the NDP put forward in private members' bills, Peter Julian on the first and Heather McPherson on the second.
Are you familiar with those legislative efforts by the NDP? How well do they match up with your recommendations?