Mr. Angus, we are discussing that now. I will remind the committee of the rules I read at the start and that are on pages 1067-1068 of the French version of O'Brien-Bosc. It reads as follows:
Witnesses giving testimony may be assisted by counsel, but they must first seek the committee's permission. Counsel, when permitted, is restricted to an advisory role and may neither ask questions nor reply on the witness's behalf. Counsel is not noted in the Minutes of Proceedings as a witness, but rather as a participant...
There is also the important point that follows:
There are no specific rules governing the nature of questions which may be put to the witnesses appearing before committees, beyond the general requirement of relevance to the issue before the committee. Witnesses must answer all questions which the committee puts to them. A witness may object to a question asked by an individual committee member. However, if the committee agrees that the question be put to the witness, he or she is obliged to reply. On the other hand, members have been urged to display the "appropriate courtesy and fairness" when questioning witnesses. The actions of a witness who refuses to answer questions may be reported to the House.
I will come back to what was said at the beginning. I never challenged Ms. Davidson's question, but it is, of course, important that Mr. Carroll stick to the question. So I will let Ms. Davidson continue. We haven't allowed Mr. Carroll to finish giving his response. You may continue, but remain on topic, as I mentioned at the beginning. The same goes for the witness. He needs to answer as best he can.