Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
That was a very nice way of telling Mr. Leef to use his inside voice for the remainder of his questions.
First of all, let me thank all of you for the incredible work you've done to get us to this point. I know it's not always easy when industry and civil society groups come together and work toward a consensus. I think you've done incredible work to get to this point.
My other observation is that, if you've put all this work into it and you've arrived at a consensus, it's a bit disappointing that we don't see that consensus fully reflected in the legislation. That's not a fair question to put to you. It's a question we should have put to the government representatives in the brief opportunity we had to speak with them about why that consensus isn't accurately reflected here.
By way of observation, I'm also deeply disappointed that we find a section in this bill relating to first nations when they've been very clear. I've got a letter in front of me from the Chiefs of Ontario who are saying that the Government of Canada has never consulted and accommodated first nations on the mandatory reporting initiative, which is a position that's been echoed by others including the Canadian Bar Association. I find it—I don't know what the right word is that doesn't get me in trouble with the chair—profoundly troubling that clause 29 is in this bill without such consultation. I think, in fact, that clause ought to be deleted in its entirety. If such consultation were to take place down the road and a consensus were achieved, then the bill could always be amended down the road.
Let me ask you this. If that clause were to come out of the bill, I assume it would make absolutely no difference to the objectives that you're trying to achieve, if we exempted the applicability to first nations in Canada.