Mr. Chair, I think the argument that there must be a government member could be quite biased. We tried this in a different committee during the last Parliament. The way in which the amendment is worded means that if two witnesses are chosen by the committee or by a party, and, at the last minute, the government realizes that they are not favourable to its position, the government members on the committee may simply not attend the meeting. Consequently, it would be impossible to hear from the witnesses. This makes no sense. It could be a way of boycotting certain witnesses. I think that is unacceptable.
On February 3rd, 2009. See this statement in context.