Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much for getting an answer from Monsieur Mayrand on whether he'll be able to attend this afternoon or not.
Obviously, at the outset I am going to vehemently oppose this motion. This is another attempt to shut down access to a witness who is an absolute expert and at the centre of this entire process. We've seen all of the witnesses we need, and it would be nice to have two hours. Some of the members have indicated they want to spend a few hours to do some preparatory work. I'd like to suspend for 12 hours and get Libby Davis here as a witness. Yes, I know it's Davies. My apology to the member.
I have great concerns about this. I know full well that we don't have the numbers to win this vote. I know full well that it doesn't matter what words come out of my mouth; I will not convince you to allow us to question this witness. There can be no harm in getting at the truth, unless you have something to hide.
We had every single one of our witnesses denied. We asked at the original meeting if we could have eight additional rounds with Monsieur Mayrand. This committee--not this side of this committee, but the opposition side--voted this down and basically shut down our ability to generate questions from Monsieur Mayrand. So knowing that the numbers, the tyranny of the majority, would dictate the outcome, we asked for a number of documents from Monsieur Mayrand. Some of them were just provided this morning--taken back because there was something wrong with them. That's fair. We agreed to give them back, because that stuff happens. We just got them back.
My point is that we've asked for 12 pieces of documentation so we can move forward with our side. Until two hours ago, the Liberals had all the documentation they had asked for; we had absolutely nothing. All of the witnesses we've asked for have been denied their right to appear here to present our side and prove to Canadians that all parties do this in every extent, in every fashion. The only good news behind this is that the witnesses who did show, the witnesses called by the opposition, actually did support our case.
Now we're going to shut down this thing. In some ways it's good to see that this partisan, illegitimate forum is done. We know that when and if any report from this committee hits the House it will be dead on arrival. But we have the opportunity to get more information from this witness. This witness is here before other witnesses.
I really don't know what else to say. We came here in good faith to play by the rules. It's been difficult every day to learn the new rules and how they might change. We've heard you defend yourself and make changes in how you perceive talking to a witness as not talking to a witness. We've seen you backtrack on statements about summonses. This has been a farce. It's a joke. I don't understand how we can now vote to not give us more opportunity to question this witness. I just can't believe this.
One of the witnesses that the opposition called was the chairman for the national party. Did you learn something that he was going to say that would help our case? Is that why you voted to get him out of here? Just this morning we had a gentleman who was summonsed and showed up--