Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I understand the mandamus concern, and I understand some of the other concerns. In fact, as Mr. Jean himself said, we should look at the provincial experience. I did.
Here's my problem. In 2002, three cabinet ministers from the Conservative government in Ontario, who are now in this government, brought in precisely this change. It wasn't done in the first year, it wasn't done in the second year, and it wasn't done in the third year. In fact, it wasn't done by the government at all. It took a change of government to actually implement the standard and to bring in the airfare for advertising clarity.
So my fear is precisely based on experience. I know the Ontario language does speak about “may”--the use of the word “may”--but it took three and three-quarter years to get it done by a separate government, not the one proposing it. So I think you can understand the concern.
This is of such importance to Canadians right now. There's a huge amount of confusion from a consumer protection perspective--huge. We're going into the biggest, most popular travel time of the year, and we're still seeing effectively fraudulent advertising.
We need to move on this, and we need to move on it quickly. With respect to assurances provided by the government, I don't know if they'll do it. I think this is something that requires us as legislators to act on and to act on decisively.
I cannot believe, Monsieur Langlois, that in the full panoply of legislative instruments that the federal government exercises that there are no other instances where a regulatory power is put in the hands of a minister without the word “shall”.