Thank you, Mr. Chair. I hope that this amendment can shed some light to the exchange that my honourable friends from Thebacha and Frame Lake just had.
The committee's initial motion was to remove any such temporal limitations on the Ombud's mandate. The Minister did not concur during the standing committee review. The committee has since worked with the Minister's office to try to find a compromise, understanding the government's concerns around wide backwards-looking powers of the Ombud.
A decision was reached that January 1, 2016, at the beginning of this government's mandate, was an appropriate limitation to the temporal jurisdiction of the Ombud. I am pleased to move this, as it represents collaboration between both sides to find common ground moving forward, and I encourage Members to support this amendment that will allow the Ombud a bit more flexibility to deal with historic cases or complaints that may come forward. Thank you.