Thank you, Chair.
Having been in committees for 14 and a half years, and I was also the chair of the Standing Committee on the Environment. I do have a bit of experience on this. The tradition is that the minister would come for the budget. Tradition is that the minister would come for supplementary estimates. What Mr. Lake is bringing forward is a request that at any time we would make ourselves available on this side.
The other point I would like to make on this is that, Chair, you said it was based on the information you received from the clerk, that this has to be dealt with before the last opposition day. It's the government that decides when the opposition day is given, so it's the government's call when that day would be. This floating date is the government's call, but it cannot go later than December 10. Today, being the 20th, we have time for the minister to come.
That's the tradition of this institution, that we would have the minister come. If she's come many times before, that's nice, but we have new members on the committee—me being one of them. I have not seen the minister at the committee. I think tradition should be respected as well as transparency on budgets and supplementary estimates. I would also make myself available for when the minister can come, and when it's convenient for her.