Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I too want to respond briefly to Mr. Easter's statement. It begs the question about the importance of what happened to this committee over the last few months. The committee was prevented directly from hearing from witnesses we had agreed were important to the work we had decided to undertake on a very serious issue of the application of the Access to Information Act and alleged attempts to interfere with it.
I despair of what will happen with other committees in the six months until this apparent report—this second chance, third chance, or fifth chance, or whatever it is for the Conservative government to show some goodwill and negotiate with other parties in this House.... I despair of what will happen with other committees when they're faced with a similar situation and what message this will send to other committees.
Right now, it will look as though committees do not have the ability to summon the people they believe are necessary to their work. I think that's a very serious affront to our parliamentary democracy and to the rights and privileges of members and committees here in this place.
I also want to raise a very specific concern. He says that if the negotiations on these new guidelines break down, we can always go back and bring the motion again. Well, I don't believe that's the case, Chair. There is a real question of timeliness that's involved in bringing a question of privilege before the House.
If we delay now and don't bring this at this moment in time, as we continue our work on this particular issue, the question of timeliness will be one that's raised down the road. If we wait until after March and the breakdown of some negotiation on some possible guidelines, I think we'll be in trouble and we will lose all around on that.
So I can't support the argument that's put forward by Mr. Easter on behalf of his party. I hope we will take this matter with the seriousness it deserves, given the importance to our work, given the importance to the work of other committees in this place, and given the importance to our democracy and to the work Canadians have sent us here to do.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.