Thank you.
I am going to remind members that all of us came together to choose who would be on our witness list and to choose how we were going to proceed. Time was consumed and we agreed upon the way to do that.
Prior to leaving for the vote, I asked whether we wanted another round of questions or the deputy minister could go on his way, because the motion had asked for 60 minutes.
I believe it was your motion, Mr. Cooper.
Therefore, I confirmed that I would make sure members got their 60 minutes at minimum with this witness, and today I am seeing now for the second time this week that Conservatives believe that they can ask their questions and that no one else gets to. That's not how this committee works—and I do observe a lot of other committees.
As the chair of this committee, I am reminding members that we have a question of privilege that was not referred to us by another committee. It was referred to us by the House of Commons, to which we have been elected to serve the people of this country.
A member of Parliament stood in that place and said they felt threatened and felt unsafe, and felt that their parliamentary privilege was violated—parliamentary privilege that the average Canadian will never experience, yet we serve in the House of Commons.
We are going to respond to that question of privilege, and I never want to have to give this spiel again. We have witnesses coming and I want everyone to be honest about their intent towards it or to be honest as to what they are suggesting.
Mr. Cooper, go ahead.