First and foremost, I would like to say that we on the official opposition side are highly sensitive to the individuals who are wrongfully imprisoned in China and to not doing anything that would in any way put their release in peril. That is not the goal of our wanting to have the ambassador come. We understand the incredible work that's being done there. We don't want to do anything to jeopardize that.
However, we do want to hear from the ambassador. He is an official of the Government of Canada, he is the most senior official, and he is Canada's voice, although he isn't elected, obviously, and is not a minister. He should be able to speak on all things. Regardless of the information we have, he should be able to give us the information that he gives around the world, certainly in China and to other people.
We are asking for a briefing from him so that he can give us an overview of all the consular, diplomatic, trade and security aspects that apply to his position. We want to have that sooner rather than later so it can inform us when we dive deeply into the other things. It is our intention to have the opportunity to study all of those areas and that we will hear from officials who will give us more information in each one of those areas. Without a clear overview of the government's strategy towards the relationship with China, which would come from the ambassador, as well as a current update on the status of that relationship—it's the responsibility of the ambassador to advise us on it—we won't be able to know which officials to call and what information there is to do a deep dive on later.
So yes, there is a sense of urgency. The relationship is deteriorating, and we as a committee would like to be able to do some homework and provide recommendations so that we can ensure the relationship doesn't deteriorate any more and we are able to protect national security interests, economic interests and diplomatic interests of Canada.