Mr. Chair, without divulging any state secrets, I can tell you that, yesterday, the subcommittee talked about giving each witness or group of witnesses a total of 10 minutes for an opening statement. If, for example, four University of British Columbia professors were to appear before the committee and they each had only two and a half minutes in which they or their representative could make their opening remarks, then Parliament would have totally changed how it does things. Witnesses would not be used to nor happy with such an approach.
Will the clerk be writing to witnesses to advise them that, oddly enough, they will have to work within the framework of a subcommittee and choose a spokesperson, or that they will have only two and a half minutes each in which to speak? In all likelihood, should this pass, groups of witnesses from British Columbia or Newfoundland, for example, will decide that the trip here is not worth it and that the legislative committee does not respect the traditional rules for hearing witnesses.
I do not know if the clerk can answer my question. Should this motion pass unamended, will witnesses be advised, prior to their appearance, that they will each have only two minutes, if there are five of them, or two and a half minutes, if there are four of them, in which to make a presentation or find a spokesperson?