I was simply going to say, Mr. Chairman, that as you are going through future business I want to make sure there's adequate time blocked out not just to talk about future witnesses or to have a conversation about how we're going to accommodate those witnesses who are summoned so that it's at a convenient time for them; I want adequate time staked out at the next meeting to talk about the consequences associated with those who willingly and knowingly ignored the summons to appear before this committee.
Perhaps we will need some time from the senior law clerk for a lecture to the committee on the consequences and the steps taken to invoke sanctions against those people who would knowingly offend and insult Parliament by ignoring a summons to appear before this committee.
By my count, three out of 26 witnesses who were summonsed have actually appeared at the times they were scheduled on the summons to appear. To me that shows a widespread.... I don't think there was some Jungian thing whereby they all woke up with some collective unconscious and said, let's insult Parliament and not go to the scheduled appearance before the committee. I think somebody coordinated this mass boycott of our committee.
The last thing I'll say is that the reason it's so important to deal with this tomorrow is that it sets a terrible, terrible precedent for all future committees if people can thumb their noses at this committee and ignore a summons. What does that say to all future committees that try to have witnesses appear before them? It means that it's optional to appear before a parliamentary committee, even when a summons has been issued. That is not acceptable.
I want there to be adequate time tomorrow for us to vent this idea thoroughly and completely and to make it publicly known that we will not tolerate this kind of insult by the Conservative Party of Canada towards the Parliament of Canada.