I'll just read you the first paragraph of what Mr. Hill had to say, the leader of the government in the House of Commons:
Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the government to address the issue of ministers' staff members being called before committees to testify.
The key point is the next statement:
We recognize that committees do have the authority to call for persons and papers; however, just because they can does not mean that they ought to in every case.
I think, Mr. Chair, that really what the leader of the government in the House of Commons is saying there is that he knows full well that committees have the right and the authority to call for persons and papers. That's what we've done here. We've called for persons--persons who are knowledgeable in the issue.
The minister, in his remarks, went to on to say that pressure is being put on staffers. And I've heard some of the discussions, through the media, from government members trying to cover what I would call their irresponsible position here, that they're young, they're inexperienced. Some of them are indeed young, and some of them are indeed inexperienced. Many of them are paid—and I could go through the list—in the over-$100,000 range. People who are in that bracket of income and in a senior position in a minister's office developing policy obviously shouldn't be there just as a patronage plum. They should be there to do their job for the citizens of Canada, not just for the patronage desires of the minister of the crown.
There's only one way of getting at these individuals to see what they're really doing. This was a government that came in here talking about accountability and responsibility, and we have never—we have never—in our lifetime seen a government that's so secretive, so hidden, so managing the messaging as this one is.
So my point, Mr. Chair, is that I believe that the leader of the government in the House of Commons, in his own remarks, knows full well that committees have the right and the authority to call persons—