Foreign Affairs committee  And they're independent.

Foreign Affairs committee  We've had a lot of support, but I must say that we saw how polarizing the debate has been. The chamber of commerce told us it agreed with the objectives of the bill, while asking that we amend about ten sections to make them less onerous. For instance, the concept of control mec

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. I will answer the second part of your question, the one on the threshold. You are asking why we chose $40 million?

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, it's not an easy choice. You should know that in Britain, it's about $64 million for the threshold, and in Australia, it's about $100 million. Australia just goes for bigger enterprises. We go for the big and the middle-sized enterprises. This was the reasoning, because e

Foreign Affairs committee  What's interesting is that the United States has prohibited goods produced by forced labour since 1930, so they're way ahead of us. That said, they've only systematically applied that ban for a few years. Of course, it's understandable that there's also the political aspect. The

Foreign Affairs committee  We won't magically eliminate all forced labour in our supply chain. The idea is to give companies a bit of time to truly understand what's happening in their supply chain and resolve it. You say the bill has no real consequences. On the contrary, the fact that companies must rep

Foreign Affairs committee  First, I'd like to say that, in Germany, the due diligence law related to supply chains is very progressive. It initially applies to companies with over 3,000 employees. In the case of Bill S‑211, we're targeting companies with at least 250 employees. Yes, then, comparisons can b

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Bergeron. Nothing prevents companies from relocating, but, at this time, there's already a movement in many countries to adopt laws to prevent forced child labour in supply chains. Those companies obviously have no interest in moving to the Unite

Foreign Affairs committee  I would add that, the farther a company is from the supply chain, the greater the risk of finding forced labour. Forced labour is often most common in relation to agriculture and raw materials, so it's even harder to find for companies that are far from that. However, I believe

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm not sure either whether that idea is included in the scope of the bill. I'd remind you that we already have a law that prevents goods manufactured using forced labour from entering Canada, which clearly stems from the free trade agreement. As my colleague Mr. McKay noted, th

Foreign Affairs committee  In terms of lists, it's a good idea for small businesses. That said, in all the discussions I've had with medium and large businesses, they asked that the government give them the tools they need to apply the provisions of Bill S‑211. That was said very clearly in the Senate by t

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for inviting me to testify. I am pleased, of course, to be able to share with the committee the results of two and a half years of work in the Senate on Bill S‑211 and the lessons learned. As my colleague John McKay told you, we've consulted many stakehold