Mr. Chair, I thank the hon. member for her question.
Through our agreement, we noted that a bill would be introduced by December 31 and that efforts would be made to do so. Obviously, we don't control all elements of the parliamentary calendar.
So it's important to note that not everything was under our control. That said, it is indeed very important that we introduce our bill, through the agreement.
If I'm more confident that we will succeed, it is because we've already started the consultations and work.
The 2013 bill contained no regulations and was non‑binding, and first nations felt they were not consulted.
So an important part of this bill is co‑development. We don't have a lot of time, that's true. The federal government could introduce a bill that would meet our deadline, but if our partners didn't feel comfortable or if they wanted to work longer, I wouldn't want to ignore the co‑development process.
We intend to introduce the bill before the end of the year, but we will also work at the pace of our partners.