Yes.
Mr. Chair, ministers are ultimately accountable and answerable to Parliament. Therefore, ministerial staff members will not appear when called before parliamentary committees. Instead, ministers will appear before a committee when required to account for staff members' actions. Virtually all departmental activity is carried out in the name of the minister, and ultimately that accountability lies with cabinet ministers.
We've been witnessing over the last several weeks what I was going to say is an unprecedented event, but this committee created the precedent at its last hearings on this matter, where a minister has arrived at the committee—