This is not playing politics, folks. This is, in fact, trying to get to the bottom of the issue. I do want to comment on Pierre's point, the parliamentary secretary's point.
This is a crucial question with the new government, Mr. Chair. This is not the way previous governments operated.
This never happened previously, guys. If I call over to the department to ask for information from a bureaucrat from Agriculture Canada, where a lot of this stuff can be settled out, I get transferred to the minister's office. As an MP, I now am denied access to the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food. Some of these folks that were before this committee as farm leaders are not denied that access. That's one of the new developments with this minister and this government. That's why this question has to be put here.
This question has to be put here because I cannot have the normal dialogue with a department that I as an MP should be able to have. As a farm leader, you would have more access. We're not offered any other alternatives. The fact of the matter is that on the questions to the minister when he was before committee, he came here and he gave us an hour. An hour is not enough. It should have been two hours. You couldn't raise the serious questions with him.
Mr. Chair, I call the question on this. We have no other way to go. I call the question.