Mr. Chairman, I don't want to let Mr. Pratte's letter go unanswered. Whether or not we choose to take any further action on the content of the letter, the fact that he.... I don't want to set any kind of precedent that when a standing committee summons or calls a witness to appear before the committee, a letter from his lawyer saying, “No, I don't choose to attend” becomes the norm around here. We should be at least getting a letter back to Mr. Pratte saying we condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the cavalier way in which they treated the invitation and then the call to appear before our committee as a witness.
On June 19th, 2008. See this statement in context.