Thank you, Chair.
Thank you for being here today, Mr. Walsh, and for bringing Mr. Tardi with you.
As you know, I was of the opinion at the last meeting that this was probably an unnecessary visit. It strikes me that the facts of the situation are absolutely clear, and nothing you've said this morning has dissuaded me from that opinion.
This committee invited, and then summoned, three people related to a study that we are undertaking. They have refused to appear, and I think that's a very serious issue. It goes to the ability of this committee to do the work it has decided is important. We know those folks were advised or ordered not to attend by a cabinet minister and by the Prime Minister. This I think also goes to our ability as a committee to undertake the work that we believe is required.
You've made it very clear that our next step is to report that to the House of Commons, and then it's the House that takes the issue from there and makes decisions about what has happened here in the committee. I believe we should get on with that. I think we've been very generous in the committee. In fact, we've extended the possibility for these folks to appear until tomorrow, in an act of extreme generosity that I don't believe was necessary, but the committee in its wisdom decided to do that. In fact, we've given these people extensions to find the time or the ability to get here to be questioned by the committee. We need to get on with this work.
I don't have too many questions for you. I'm finding the conversation very interesting this morning. The what-ifs are very interesting, but I think we need to get on with the work that we've undertaken, that we believe is required, and we need to get on with reporting to the House the failure of these people to show and to let the House deal with that issue.
I do think an important issue wasn't covered in the draft motion, if I can just speak to that briefly, because it has come up as well this morning.
I think the letters from Minister Paradis and the Prime Minister to the committee also need to be part of what we report to the House. I think those are significant interventions in this issue. The Prime Minister reporting that he had told Mr. Soudas not to appear is a crucial piece of what's happened here, and it could be important for the House to have that information, as well as Mr. Paradis' advice to the folks who work for him. I believe that should be part of our report and we should append those letters in our report to the House.
Just to let members of the committee know, that's something I'll be pursuing when we get to the discussion of our report to the House.
Thank you, Chair.