Here are some words of encouragement. You mentioned before Bill spoke that this prorogation thing was a factor in everything. I just want to encourage you, Mr. Chair, to draw on your experience with the previous government, who of course prorogued on a number of occasions. I have no doubt that it was a factor with committee business. I think we can rely on your experience in those scenarios—back to back, I believe it was, under Prime Minister Chrétien—to give us a clear sense of what impact these 23 days of prorogation have had on the committee's business. I'm pretty sure you can handle that, but I think I take comfort in the fact that it was done often enough by previous governments—140 times or more, if I'm not mistaken, over the course of time—for us all to have a sense of how it impacts things.
On March 18th, 2010. See this statement in context.