I'd like to join with the Conservative members in asking Mr. Drouin to withdraw the amendment.
We're here in public. We're televised. The media is doing a live stream tweet marathon on this committee meeting, so the Canadian public and Canadian producers are fully aware of what is going on in this committee right now. I think we made a very clear case for why the minister needs to appear.
I cannot support this amendment. That doesn't mean I wouldn't welcome the chance to hear from CFIA and industry representatives, but we need to have the minister. That's where the buck stops.
I think it's incumbent upon this committee to at least make the invitation. I know ministers' schedules are very busy, but I think we've just heard today a willingness to modify our schedules to help them out. I'm going to be here in Ottawa this weekend. I'm sure all of us can find some time next week for a special committee meeting to accommodate the minister's schedule.
I would ask Mr. Drouin, here in this public setting, in front of the wider Canadian audience, to please withdraw this amendment so that we can have the ministers here before this committee. As I mentioned before, it's been since November 29 and we're almost in April. We need to have this legislative oversight of a very important department on a very important issue.