I think we've heard that there's no real reason for Mr. Jean's amendment and that risk management is a key factor. There is no doubt that his amendment would weaken the proposed definition, and there's no doubt that the witnesses who came before this committee were concerned about safety management, about the process for managing risk. Mr. Laframboise's proposed amendment is very effective in dealing with that fundamental issue that we, as members of this committee, have to deal with.
I do want to raise one point, Mr. Chair, right at the outset, because we will be spending many committee meetings together. I'm very happy to have the department resource people here, but they are resource people; they are not here to debate political points and go back and forth debating with individual members.
I hope that you, as chair, will differentiate between those of us who are elected to represent the Canadian people and to make legislation better, and those who are here as very valued resource people--people we can go to on occasion with specific technical questions, but who are not participating in the political debates.