Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the opportunity.
Ministers and other witnesses, I really want to say how grateful I am for your being here today, especially seeing as it's an evening meeting.
My question is for both ministers, but perhaps, Minister Virani, it would make sense to start with you, given your background in this committee.
I've only recently joined this committee. In fact, this is my third meeting. You said you look back fondly on this. I look forward to the day when I can look back fondly on this committee, but unfortunately, as we've just witnessed, this committee has become highly politicized and it has lost its way.
If you look at the Emergencies Act legislation, there are two things. There is this committee and there's the royal commission. Both of them have been put in place for various specific purposes. One is to look at the conditions that were in place that required the government to invoke the legislation, and one—which is this committee—is to look at what went on during the time the Emergencies Act was invoked.
We're two days away from the two-year anniversary of its being invoked and a few days away from the two-year anniversary of its being revoked. I would say that this committee has gone far beyond its scope and far beyond its mandate, and I would like to hear your view on that and perhaps hear from Minister LeBlanc too.