I'll be extremely brief, Mr. Chair.
I concur with what Mr. Harris has said.
I think the issue here is that regardless of the reason the minister finds himself in a quandary where he can't be here at 4 o'clock...he can be here for the half hour, my understanding is the half hour prior, and then come back after the fiscal update at 5:30 or after votes. Am I correct in that? So we would still have an hour of the minister's time today.
I've looked at this agenda, and like the rest of the members here, I have spent a lot of time sitting around committee tables. We have a very ambitious agenda and a very small window of time. Quite frankly, we may not be able to get the minister when it's convenient for us. If we can do it today--we have him for half an hour and we can get him for the second half hour--my suggestion would be that we try to accommodate his schedule for today.