I think this just underscores that we have more delay, and it underscores why time is of the essence. It underscores that we should never have been here. The reason we are here is that this government failed to act and failed to move forward with establishing a foreign influence registry a year after the consultation process ended. Only now are we beginning to study a bill that as of yesterday had the first day of debate at the second reading stage.
I'll move on to the foreign influence registry provisions, and specifically the definition of “public office holders”. I note that, for instance, appointees of the federal cabinet constitute a public office holder, but provincial cabinet appointees, or appointees of provincial cabinets, are not included. Similarly, officers, directors and employees of federal boards, commissions and tribunals constitute a public office holder, but the same would not seem to apply with respect to directors or employees of provincial or municipal government corporations or agencies.
Why were those left out?