Mr. Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for her point of view. However, I do not think she understands that what we are talking about here is innovation. What she is talking about is an old-school way of development.
The old school was basically this: A company from one's country sets up shop and brings in some ancillary resources to help. It looks good and has signature projects. That is far in the past. Everyone is looking at the new model of transparency. That is why I say the Conservatives are stuck in the past.
Every one of those witnesses, including the ones the member referred to, especially from the U.K., were saying to get on board with the EITI and full transparency of Canadian companies that are doing business abroad. The Conservative are not there yet. Hopefully they will be by the time we have the meetings in England. Right now, in Sydney, Australia, they will be talking about strengthening EITI.
Do members know who has been called out on this by the G8? I recommend that everyone here, specifically the parliamentary secretary, read about what have been described as the two outliers on EITI and strengthening transparency in the G8. They are Russia and Canada. Is that what we want? Do we want to be seen as laggards?
We should be leading in this, which is why, on this one, I am afraid that the parliamentary secretary and the government are out of touch with present circumstances.