We're back in session.
Colleagues, as I had indicated at the beginning of the meeting, the developments in the House this morning are very serious. Each of the parties had an opportunity to make representations in the House, but because there wasn't sufficient time—I believe all of the parties felt they needed more time to digest the statement of the government House leader on behalf of the government--we still have some work to do.
I'm sure that members will want to consult with their colleagues as to how we should proceed. I must admit to you that I was hopeful that the minister would have some briefing that was pertinent to the matter before us. I guess, combined with the chemistry in the room, it just didn't quite work out that way. Unfortunately, we weren't making headway on the order of the day.
We do now have a motion that the committee has adopted that they want to consider the matter of the non-appearance of Mr. Soudas, who was supposed to be here today. As I indicated to you, Mr. Soudas did in fact call the clerk just shortly before this meeting started to indicate that he indeed would not be here, and that the Prime Minister wouldn't be here because it's not normal to have the Prime Minister appear before committee on this matter, but that a representative would be sent. At that point, that's how we ended up with the Minister of Transport, who was delegated to appear on behalf of the Prime Minister. I wanted to try to see if there was something there that would help. I think the committee members decided that we weren't making much headway on the subject matter before us.