With all due respect to my Liberal colleague, she presupposes incorrectly. What we are trying to do.... I listened very carefully to Senator Harder's support with respect to his motion, and I heard him very clearly say this does not potentially close the door on hearing from further witnesses. That is an opinion not clearly stated within the motion itself.
I mean no disrespect to Senator Harder, but unless it's actually there and we vote and agree on it, we may not get consensus to call further witnesses. What this does.... I'm quite shocked that my colleague from the Liberal side would take exception to this, because what we're trying to do is expedite the process. We all agreed the list we had on our work plan was quite unmanageable in terms of where we are right now, almost a year into this process.
We're trying to expedite those witnesses who are not that contentious by allowing them to file their reports. We still have further academics on that work plan. Those academics, most surely, would have a prepared statement, or would be in a position to prepare a written statement.
This is all about efficiency. It's not about complicating things. It gives specific impact to Senator Harder's proposal, which we have yet to vote on.