Foreign Affairs committee  I can't speak for the political level. I believe the concern was in ensuring that the companies, the private sector, and NGOs have enough time to at least put in place provisions that will allow cabinet to be satisfied that entry into force is now due. That will be indicated to cabinet and cabinet will make that decision.

Foreign Affairs committee  What I can confirm to you is that the sentencing that will be applied now to foreign bribes—Canadians who are bribing foreigners—will be the same as Canadians bribing Canadians. So what we are doing with this legislation is ensuring that there isn't a double standard, that when Canadians go overseas and bribe others, they will be suffering the same penalty as Canadians bribing other Canadians.

Foreign Affairs committee  My colleague has just reminded me that in fact these aren't mandatory sentences up to 14 years. They're a maximum of 14 years. There's quite a bit of discretion within the judiciary and the judge, bearing in mind how the case comes before him or her, to determine the degree to which they would apply a sentence or a fine.

Foreign Affairs committee  Part of the development of this legislation has required quite a considerable amount of consultation, not only with the private sector but with NGOs and others. That is an ongoing responsibility the government has and that we take seriously. One of the things that came up in a two-day workshop we conducted in 2012 was an acknowledgement that while facilitation payments are permitted under the current treaty, most countries—with the exception of Canada, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand—were really left out, and we should really be moving on that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. Honourable members, Mr. Chair, it's my pleasure to be here with you today to discuss legislative amendments to the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, CFPOA. Since its introduction on February 5, Bill S-14 has progressed quickly and has received widespread support from both parliamentarians and stakeholders.

Foreign Affairs committee  The Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Act has the authority to negotiate any international agreement with a foreign state. So the minister, through his officials, exercises that mandate, normally based on a mandate that's decided by cabinet and the minister.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think the way you've articulated that question is precisely on the food groups within it, which we need to deal with. We need to dispel the mythology around them. Let me try with respect to disputes in the Arctic. There are only three, and those are the three in the document I have given you that are in the Canadian Arctic.

Foreign Affairs committee  This is a really important question you've raised, because I think it's part of what we were discussing earlier in terms of the awareness-raising. Are you going to find countries agree with each other on everything, all the time? Probably not. The reality is how does it play out in real time?

Foreign Affairs committee  Only if it's not single malt.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, indeed, and I was pretty short in my statement at the beginning on this, but this is really one of the major success stories of the Law of the Sea convention, and also in the foresight that Canada had put into it many, many years ago. In a nutshell, coastal states have the right to extend their exploitation of resources on the seabed to what is called the foot of the slope of the continental shelf.

Foreign Affairs committee  None of the issues you've raised actually impede Canada and the U.S. from negotiating a resolution to our boundary dispute. The issues you've raised are really about managing resources and environment, as Canada is doing as well. If you try to separate those two, it really confuses the issue.

Foreign Affairs committee  You've raised a very interesting point. You had trouble finding the Northwest Passage, didn't you? That's because it is a concept, not a reality. The reality is that we have a series of different channels that run east-west, west-east through the Arctic Archipelago. If you look at your map—and I don't have the map you have, I just have my own map—you will see that we have a large number of islands, and depending on the year and the navigability between those islands, that could be the Northwest Passage.

Foreign Affairs committee  They are two passages. There's the northern passage, and I would point out to you that because of the way the currents in the Arctic work, the northern passage is open a lot of the time in the summer. The Russians, very entrepreneurially, have decided to make this a major business.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, it leaves you with the Scotch. The reality is that the ice, as it breaks up, gets into places where ice never was before. So those large chunks of ice are now becoming much more of a greater peril to shipping. This is all to say that someone at Lloyd's of London is really making the decision as to what traffic will go through Canada's Northwest Passage, based on the insurance they're willing to give those vessels.

Foreign Affairs committee  To the Law of the Sea, yes, but I must say that the Americans have been extremely good stewards as well. While they have not been able to go to their Senate to get acceptance of the treaty, what they have done in actual fact is abide by many of the tenets in there. We appreciate that.