Thank you very much to our witnesses for your very helpful testimony.
Before I launch into my question, Madam Chair, for the sake of the sponsor of the bill, I have an issue with one comment that was made somewhere along the way. It was suggested that his testimony was simply just one line. I think his answer was a bit broader than that and suggested that there was also an opportunity to explain what the community benefit was.
I'd like to give each of the witnesses a chance to speak to this. One of the things that I see as a benefit from this proposed legislation is that it provides a platform for bidders to suggest how they might meet certain needs in a community.
Mr. Atkinson, your point is well taken. I think you said if you're building a penitentiary with a green space, that should probably be in the specs of the project. All other things being equal, if I know that the bidder on a project plans to hire, let's say, new graduates from the local community college, which will help them stay in Atlantic Canada when we have out-migration of youth, that's a very positive thing. If they're going to hire or contract out work to Summer Street Industries, a group in my community that employs special needs adults, I'd like to give them that platform. I don't see that currently being embedded into practices.
To each of you, do you think this legislation provides a helpful platform to bidders to take part in that portion of the analysis?