Mr. Speaker, I have two points. First, I thank the hon. member for his questions. They were indeed very pertinent and I would like to respond to them. I know the hon. member has been very diligent in his work on this.
I would like to suggest a comparison. The Minister of Industry also has reporting to him, albeit nominally, because he works independently, the director of investigation and research. That person investigates what we formerly called the combines investigation and so on. Does anyone ever say that the person who does that judicial function, because he reports nominally to the minister, who then tables his report in the House, is somehow tainted by the fact that he reports to the minister? I do not think anyone has ever said that.
I do not know why anyone would say that a report delivered by the ethics counsellor to the minister in his capacity as registrar general, which is then tabled by the minister in the House, is somehow tainted. The member across will surely know that is not the case.
With regard to the tiers or the categories, I want to outline something for members across and indeed to all Canadians who might read Hansard . I cannot discuss watching TV; that would be inappropriate.
The federations of agriculture and other organizations came to testify before us. They told us that the governments consult them, and because the governments consult them, the new and stricter requirements that we will be imposing on the contract type of lobbyist should not apply to them, that it is in fact unfair to them.
If the member wants to say that we should give far more bureaucratic type of work to be done by the dairy commissions or the dairy councils, the federations of agriculture, the milk committees, and groups like that, let him say that, if he wants to impose those kinds of onerous requirements of the kind that we are placing on contract lobbyists.