Any time our government has brought forward a bill, or...having been a member in opposition in the previous government, I noticed that any time a government bill was brought before the justice committee, there was no shortage of individuals who wanted to appear as witnesses. You mentioned the Canadian Bar Association. I know that they have a director of legislation and law reform. They have a law reform director. Other bodies have appeared before our committee on government legislation to talk about every conceivable aspect of that legislation--the constitutionality of the legislation, the impact it would have on society, and so on.
I think Canadians might ask why this wasn't done sooner. Why would we be spending taxpayers' dollars--you did mention that we have to respect taxpayers' dollars--when there are so many other completely independent bodies willing to perform that work?The previous government asked for research only once. They asked only once for a study to be performed by the Law Commission.