I find it interesting; I think we've all acknowledged the size and scale of revisiting our lobbying legislation in a meaningful way, and yet there seems to be an appetite or a move toward limiting the application of this study to two days. That to me is a contradiction. If we're going to acknowledge the size and scale of it, we should be considering this in a longer view. Maybe the two sessions we have set aside for it will provide us with a framework to look at how we can elevate Canada's lobbying registry.
I can share with you, Mr. Chair, members of this committee, and people who might be watching at home, that in my own research pertaining to issues of Canadian interest, I've had to pin and research the United States of America's lobbyists registry to find connections of Canadian lobbyists who have to report in a deeper way to Congress than they do to this House of Commons. That's a problem.
We actually have a very weak lobbyists registry, in my opinion. I think there's an opportunity for us to elevate that and to create something that is more substantive. I don't think it's going to happen in two days. Maybe it doesn't happen in my lifetime as an MP. It's certainly going to be one of my pursuits, though. Having watched the comings and goings on government operations and procurement, I can assure you that there were questions—questions that all Canadians deserve to have answers to. I would hope that the government would be able to provide those to us in a meaningful way, or I would hope that, having learned from perhaps some of the gaps in our systems and principles in the previous session, we can as a committee propose to the House of Commons ways in which we can strengthen and shore up our lobbyists registry.
I know that there are members around this table with subject matter expertise. I'm keenly interested in hearing what their perspectives would be on this if they had a blank slate and we were able to draft from scratch the gold standard of a lobbyists registry. What would that look like? I can assure you that from where I sit, there are significant gaps when we have to look to the south to find tougher legislation on lobbying, given the state of their affairs there.
If the compromise is that we go to two sessions, so be it, but I hope the members of this committee have within their purview, or their line of sight, ways in which we can improve our lobbying registry and our procurement practices to ensure that we are leading in that regard and not woefully lacking, which appears to be the case currently.
Thank you.