Thank you, Madam Chair.
When we drafted this amendment, it seemed reasonable to us. I would add that today, given the number of amendments that have been rejected, it seems even more important to me, since the obligation to publish within a prescribed period of time has been systematically refused. We now know now that “as soon as possible”, or any other vague wording, can mean the next morning, or two years later. It would seem important to us that the minister at least report to Parliament as to the use of the new powers given to him by Bill S-2. That is why we propose that:
21 (1) No later than December 31 next following the end of each fiscal year, the minister shall prepare a report on the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this act during the previous fiscal year and cause it to be tabled before each House of Parliament.
In this way there would at least be a secure record where on a yearly basis all of the decisions would be made public and each member could apprise himself of them and decide to convey the information to his riding in anyway he or she deemed appropriate.
Subclause 21(2) describes what this annual report should contain. I don't want to read each amendment again. You have had time to read them. It seems to me, now that the obligatory publication of a report at a set time has been rejected, that the annual report should be the minimum we could expect.