Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, I'll try to refrain from getting into condescending and sanctimonious arguments across the table, except to say this. I think we owe it to the people we serve and we owe it to these gentlemen to keep the politics between ourselves in the House. Let's work on this committee to try to get a report that addresses the very subject matter that you're here today to speak about.
At the last meeting we had on this subject a couple of days ago, I admitted that I was a new parliamentarian and was quite open to hearing from the various government departments on the challenges they have in meeting the need to do something about what I see as a public safety problem that endangers the lives and the well-being of Canadians. It is our responsibility here to listen to you, to take your suggestions, and to try to formulate a report that will get the job done.
That having been said, I would just like a comment from you as to what you think the stages should be, in a reasonable amount of time, perhaps starting with Mr. Webster. If you think this committee would benefit by perhaps a visit to one of these markets just to get a hands-on training session, and perhaps Mr. Lipkus could assist us in that....