Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the assistance of the law clerk. I still think that this is going to create some uncertainty and may lead to something being marched off to court, where the better solution is to just remove any temporal restriction on the mandate of the Ombud.

I am concerned that this will still act as a deterrent to individuals who wish to bring forward complaints. I guess I want to go on the public record as saying that, whoever the Ombud is, if this passes, I would encourage them to take the broadest possible interpretation of their mandate, that anything that has started after or even is a continuation of anything after January 1, 2016, that they would interpret their mandate very broadly and be able to investigate any acts or omissions or conduct, even if it happens before January 1, 2016.

The other thing I want to go on the public record, Mr. Chair, about is that I would request that the Ombud, whoever that person is in the future, document any cases that they feel that they don't have jurisdiction because of this hard deadline that could get inserted into the bill, so that future MLAs can see whether this is having an impact on the jurisdiction of the Ombud, and I want that sort of information to be recorded in their annual report.

I can't compel that. It is my suggestion. I want to draw attention to this, because I think it is poor public policy, but I want it documented in some way for future MLAs so that they can fix this problem. Thanks, Mr. Chair.