Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Our government delegation at this committee has been completely consistent from the beginning: ministers are responsible for their offices, and they will be the ones who will appear on behalf of those offices. That decision was communicated formally to the House of Commons via the House leader.
Given that this decision has been made, we look forward to working with members of the opposition to ensure that they get the answers they seek while respecting that core principle of ministerial accountability.
So I would invite members on the other side to reach across the aisle to find some sort of arrangement that allows both the principle of transparency, which they seek to uphold, and the principle of ministerial responsibility, which we believe sacrosanct, to coexist within the confines of this committee and indeed throughout all of Parliament.
Thank you.