I just want to make two things clear to my colleagues.
First, a lot has been said about wanting to stop or block witnesses. Nothing would be further from our intentions or our interests as a party. We want to hear from everybody. But I hope that members of the committee would agree with me that it's a little odd for us to be hearing witnesses who have access to documents to which we do not have access. And we have had the absurd situation today where generals were referring to Mr. Colvin's memos, Mr. Colvin referred to his memos, and the only people who are completely in the dark with respect to what is in those memos are the people who are sitting around this table. You cannot have a serious determination of facts unless you can get access to the information.
So we'll be using every opportunity we can, whether it's in the House or whether it's here, to get access to the information. As a chairman, I hope you'll recognize that we've always tried to move along, to get to the business of the day, to get to the business of the committee, to hear from witnesses, and not use the committee as an opportunity to block any activity. We are really very troubled by this problem of having information.
In addition, the additional problem, which I raised today in the House, is the problem of the fact that Mr. Colvin has now received a legal opinion that is completely contrary to the legal option this committee has received with respect to the extent of parliamentary privilege when it comes to providing information to the House.
I'm not giving formal notice of anything, but I'm going to tell you that we have to get to the bottom of this. This committee has to be able to get to the bottom of things, and right now we're in a position where we simply can't get access to the memoranda. We'll see what happens with the motions that have been passed with respect to our request for information and to what extent the government indicates that they're going to be willing to give them to us.
Frankly, we have a problem. We will never refuse to hear a witness, especially on matters as important as those relating to Mr. Mulroney's role on this issue. We are absolutely ready to hear all witnesses. However, we have a problem in that we cannot see the documents. We will continue to demand the documents that we need and I hope we will be able to find the solution which has so far escaped us.
We have been in a rather strange position during the past two days. We have just heard the generals and, last week, Mr. Colvin referred to all kinds of documents and memos. However, none has been provided to the committee. We only have those documents that are public. Therefore, we are unable to put really valid questions to the witnesses. No judge would ever accept to hold such an inquiry if he did not have access to the basic information. That is the problem we are facing.