Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Surrey—Newton is right. The time that I spent has been educational for me.
I grew up in Montreal. I am a city boy. Worms and fish and hooks are not my thing, but I had to learn a lot about fish. I had to learn about the community that I live in, and I was blessed to have people who were ready to show me.
I cannot tell members how many times they kept telling me, “My God, somebody is listening to us. Somebody is paying attention. Somebody is actually bringing us to the table and having these conversations.” To me, it meant I was going in the right direction.
What we have before us is just another extension of all the consultations we had, and not only in my riding; the committee also heard from over 80 witnesses and reviewed over 150 submissions. There were 14 months of consultations. They are the reason we are doing this. They help guide us to where we are today.