Mr. Chairman, my colleague is quite wrong. It is my colleague Mr. D'Amours who is right. People come here because they were accepted by the committee. From that point on, they have the status of witness and they have a right to be reimbursed for their expenses, whether they come from British Columbia or from Ottawa. The expenses of a person coming from Ottawa would be limited to their taxi fare, whereas in the case of those coming from British Columbia, the expenses could add up to much more. We cannot start discriminating between witnesses because they come from farther away and it costs more to get them here. It would be never-ending, if we made that kind of discrimination.
On May 11th, 2006. See this statement in context.