Thanks for that, Mr. Chair.
I am pleased to know that there is some appetite to look at this, because I think the nature of our motive behind this work, which is the part of the motion I agree with, is that we're trying to get to the bottom of foreign interference. To me, that is one of the most incredibly important purposes and why this motion is something that I'm in favour of, but the part I'm trying to balance with the desire to get answers on foreign interference is that it does not seem appropriate to exclude other instances where we do have credible public interest motive for other organizations.
I think it also creates a fairness regime to look at for a period under the last government. Mr. McCauley made a really good point earlier saying that when—or if—a Conservative government was to ever take place in Canada again, they'd be very open to looking at any organization to which this kind of accusation would apply because transparency is important and sunlight is the best disinfectant.
On that principle, I think it's shared between myself and the Conservatives that we need to get to the bottom of these things and actually find ways to expand it. I want to make it worth our while. If we're going to be able to exercise the incredible force of having the CRA give us documents related to a study on foreign interference, it would seem negligent not to look at some other key organizations to determine whether or not there's a pattern here, whether or not it's affecting all parties. If we're talking about foreign interference, don't you think that it affects more than one party? I think it's an opportunity for us, should the opposition agree, and maybe even the government would agree, to expand this.
It's no secret that during Harper's era, for example, there were many concerns when the Fraser Institute received some $4 million in the last decade from major American foundations. That went relatively unheard of during that time, and that's a large sum of money. Mr. Chair, these things exist as well on the opposite side, and given Mr. McCauley's position on how willing the Conservatives might be to see a study similar to that, I suggest that we include the Fraser Institute.