I'd like to speak about the idea of a written opinion. In fact, I'm wondering about the idea of an opinion itself, whether written or not.
I think we're putting the clerks in an extremely delicate position, because this is a very theoretical question. It's a bit abstract. When we ask what information the committee can obtain from the witnesses, we're asking a very broad question. We don't have any facts, any type of information or particular situation to put to them in order to obtain an opinion.
As a lawyer, I have given this kind of legal opinion. Normally, you want a certain factual basis and you want to talk about some information in particular. I'm afraid that this is a bit of a theoretical exercise when you're not asking for an opinion about a precise document or fact.
As was said earlier, I believe this request is premature, as long as we don't have the documents in front of us and as long as we can't ask for something specific.