Thank you very much, Chair.
There are numerous sides to this situation. It was something that could have been resolved a lot sooner, had the appropriate action been taken. We all know that and we all believe that. Many people around this table believe law enforcement could have done something different earlier on. The government certainly could have been respectful to the Canadians who came here to be heard, and it wasn't.
As an elected member of the government who represents a part of this country that believes in democracy, it's actually quite shameful. The smear that's gone on to characterize individuals, as our government and our Prime Minister did, I think is inappropriate and created the hassle that happened here. It put the City of Ottawa in a very difficult situation, and, basically, you guys were left hung out to dry, to some degree, in trying to resolve this without proper negotiations.
If you actually had a tripartite meetings, why were negotiators not involved? Why weren't efforts made to listen to protesters? They had legitimate concerns.