Mr. Speaker, we will shortly be having a question and comments period, and I would invite the member for Berthier-Montcalm, in the preamble to the question he will no doubt ask, to tell us what other jurisdiction has stricter rules for lobbyists than are found in Bill C-43 before us. I invite him to list the countries for us. It will not take him long-there are none. I am familiar with the situation in the United States. There are absolutely none there. In the United States, only dealings between a lobbyist and a legislator are recorded. No record is kept for a member of the executive, or even for staff member or even for the highest government official in the country. Only in the case of a conversation or other communication with a legislator, not a member of the executive.
In the United States, there is no record either of lobbyists costs, unlike what we will have here in certain controversial cases, as the minister indicated so well. In the United States, only the honoraria of foreign lobbyists are recorded when they lobby in the United States and only when foreign interests are concerned.
I went to Washington with the committee, I saw what was being done there and I invite the members opposite to get their facts straight on this matter. I was, I humbly point out, the only parliamentarian to take part in the Cooper and Holtmann committes. The member opposite claims to have become an expert on the issue after spending some months on a parliamentary committee-and the Bloc Quebecois even switched its critic mid-way through. I do not question the hon. member's competence.