Sure.
I do have one other motion on notice that I would like to table and speak to very quickly. Hopefully, we can get a vote and get a full hour of witness testimony in, if that is acceptable.
It reads:
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a), the Committee order the production of documents related to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change's trip to COP28 in Dubai:
(a) detailed itinerary;
(b) meeting details, including the (i) name and titles of the individuals in attendance, (ii) meeting notes, (iii) purpose of meeting, and (iv) outcome of meetings and;
(c) briefing notes;
(d) and expenses incurred by the Minister;
And that these documents be provided no later than December 14th, 2023.
This, of course, marries perfectly with the minister and our hopes that he will be appearing, that the House will not be rising and that we'll have the opportunity, after 250 days, to finally have the minister before this committee.
Again, I believe this motion is extremely timely. Given that the minister is in Dubai currently, making a number of major policy announcements that impact this country.... There are tens of thousands of participants. I think it's very important to know who the minister is meeting with there, what his agenda looks like, who he is trying to influence on the international stage as we work collaboratively to tackle the challenges of climate change, and who he is trying to be influenced by.
Given that they are living, for two weeks, under an air-conditioned dome of hypocrisy in the desert, I imagine it is quite expensive and high-emitting. We might not be able to get to the entirety of the cost of the COP summit itself, but in terms of the spending that the minister is undertaking alongside his, I'm sure, large entourage funded by taxpayers, I think it's important that.... While there is a significant cost to taxpayers, we deserve to know what the value for that money being spent is. We can really only tell what is happening there during this very long summit if we are able to provide this information and the totality of the price we are paying.
I know the government originally campaigned on being open by default, so I hope we can garner support from all members across this committee.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.