Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just want to reiterate. To Ms. Dabrusin's point, she is absolutely correct that we have departmental officials here, and I have no doubt that Ms. Drouin is a very capable lawyer and very learned, but we did ask for the minister.
The minister himself is an impressive individual. He is a very impressive lawyer. He is a legal scholar. He taught law at McGill, and he has written many articles on property law and intellectual property. I think he could, in many ways, really be seen as an expert in this field. We asked for him specifically. I think everyone agrees that he was supposed to be here.
I think he has made some really interesting points in the House of Commons over the years about things like the importance of net neutrality. I think he is quite knowledgeable, and it's one of the reasons we wanted him here. If the committee has a role in this Parliament, and we get to ask ministers to come to us, that's great, but the Minister of Heritage has fumbled an awful lot of the answers to these things and created more confusion, as Ms. McPherson quite justifiably pointed out. I think Mr. Lametti would be able to help clear an awful lot of this stuff up.
The fact that we have a Liberal, Ms. Dabrusin, suggesting that we should just move on and talk to the officials makes me wonder if maybe Mr. Lametti can't defend what's going on, and he just chooses not to be here.
If we've asked for the Minister of Justice to be here, he should be here. I think it shows contempt for this committee.