Thank you, Madam Chairperson. To begin, I would like to commend the Members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations for the work they have done in the preparation of the report on Bill 15. While it seems that the content of the report may not reflect the views of all Members of the committee, it is apparent that a great deal of time and effort has gone into developing the final report.
Madam Chairperson, I would like to comment briefly on the process leading to consideration of the individual recommendations of the committee. It is common practice in this House for Cabinet to abstain from voting on recommendations from the standing committee unless those recommendations are expressed in an amendment to a government-sponsored bill. It is our intention to follow this practice as such, and as a result, Cabinet will only vote on the committee's motion to amend Bill 15 to include a sunset clause. However, given the importance of Bill 15 and the work of the committee, it is important to ensure that the view of Cabinet on each of the individual recommendations is clearly expressed for the record. To this end I will be providing comments on behalf of Cabinet on each of the motions as they arise.
As we move through the report, Members will see that we concur in large part with the recommendations. We do, however, have some different perspectives on the process to implement some of the suggestions put forward by the committee. Mahsi, Madam Chairperson.