I hesitate to debate, but maybe I'll just say this for information purposes. Mr. Hiebert reminded the committee on agenda and procedure that there are some who question whether the mandate of the committee is comprehensive enough to deal with the matter.
If members would go back and look at the decision of the chair, they would see that it is a fair bit narrower than trying to find out whether a particular political party overspent or did something wrong. It had to do with public office-holders. The discussions and the interest went way beyond, but that was how you got the information you needed with regard to public office-holders.
That's one of the reasons I think it's important that we speak with Mr. Walsh and ask the questions. I think everybody understands that we want to make absolutely sure the integrity of committees, and therefore the integrity of Parliament, is protected when we do our work, regardless of the subject matter. Unfortunately, in this case, it has to do with a political party, but we should apply our work consistently regardless of who the party is. It's one of the reasons I thought maybe we should have this opportunity for a little in camera time with Mr. Walsh so that everybody can ask their questions and find out how we can deal with this in a proper fashion.
Before we decide on the balance of our work plan, I think that's what we decided, or at least there was a consensus in the agenda and procedure subcommittee. We wanted to hear from the three commissioners. We also wanted to deal with privacy and a couple of matters for the next meeting, including your own motion, Madam Freeman. Subsequent to that, we wanted to have another meeting, when we had heard all of that, to consider the next action--whether we're going to complete the work on the in and out scheme, whether or not we're going to do a study on access, or whether we're going to get involved in some other matter that the committee may want to recommend we deal with.
I don't think anyone has said no to doing this, but I think we have enough to keep us going for probably three or four meetings, after which time we will have to have this discussion more fully and maybe consult with whoever we have to consult with about whether or not this is the next priority for the committee.
Yes, Madam Freeman.