Well, thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to begin by pointing out to anybody who might be interested just how far we've come, or just how far we've dropped the notion in the 41st Parliament of ministerial accountability. I don't want anybody—any rookie MPs, or anybody watching—to think that this is normal, that we now have parliamentary committees, even major oversight parliamentary committees such as the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, dominated and ruled by parliamentary secretaries, agents of cabinet and the PMO, the Prime Minister's Office, sitting here in the room dictating what witnesses we hear, and whether or not the minister will or will not appear before a parliamentary committee. This is not normal by any stretch of the imagination. It's unprecedented.
Somebody has to start sounding the alarm that incrementally the notion of scrutiny and oversight and accountability has been eroded to the point where it's unrecognizable to those of us who have been around for a little while.
Gerry's a veteran. I remember when parliamentary secretaries first started to be allowed on to committees. They sat at the very end and they kept their mouths shut. They didn't dictate what went on behind closed doors.