I was saying that Pierre talked about a letter that is right in front of us, but I do not have it, nor does France.
Secondly, I just wanted to remind the committee that only ministers and members of Parliament can refuse to appear before a committee.
They say that they will perhaps appear at some point, but we should be quite firm with public servants, because if I remember correctly, this is not the first time that the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food has asked officials to appear and that they have wanted to come when it suited them. But there are some constraints with the agenda.
I don't think that we are being overly demanding by asking them to appear on a specific day when we give them reasonable notice. I understand that it may be difficult for them to appear at 8:45 a.m. if we write them the day before at 5:00 p.m. In that case, I can understand the difficulty, but when reasonable notice is given, I don't understand their inability to find someone at the department who can talk about the railway issues.
Larry, I don't think you were here earlier, but the suggestion was made to inform them of our dissatisfaction and to find a time slot when they can appear.