I would like to ask the researchers to do something for us.
We've had five legal groups here today, groups that are very familiar with the details of all this, and four of them have suggested to us that they do not feel that the bill as written would meet a charter challenge. As a matter of fact, probably the most experienced person in this field has suggested that he knows of at least three groups that will take the government to court, all the way to the Supreme Court, in a charter challenge if this bill goes through as written.
I've been here 13 years and I have never heard that said at a committee meeting before, that the bill is so bad or has so many flaws—not all bad, but it has certain flaws—that if corrected, could spare the state a charter challenge case.
I want to ask our researchers to see if they can find out the last time a government—it doesn't have to be this government, any government of Canada—had to defend against a charter challenge through all the courts, from the lower courts to the upper courts, and how much it cost. We should be able to find that out from the finance department.