In fact, this committee passed one motion to invite Mr. Togneri, for which he appeared twice. In other words, he has appeared and has fulfilled that motion.
There is a separate and broader debate, I acknowledge, about whether or not staff members should replace ministers in the future. But that said, the witness has appeared.
I know you are going to say that you have not released him, but in my entire time as a member of Parliament, over five and half years, I have never seen a chair release a member from testimony. In fact, the committee asks its questions, the time expires, the witness leaves, and the matter is done.
If a chair were required to release every single witness, then that has not been the practice around this place for at least the last five years. Otherwise, every single witness who has stood up and walked away from their chair is still involved in pending testimony, as we speak, because they have not been formally released.
The committee asked him to appear. Not only did he appear once, but he appeared twice. If there were any irregularity it was in the fact that he appeared more than the committee asked him to. So if the committee wants to hear him again, they would have to move another motion inviting him to come back to the committee. So far that has not happened. Therefore, we cannot move on to a discussion about his non-appearance when in fact he appeared twice and gave very exhaustive testimony both times.