Thank you.
I just want to very quickly respond to something Mr. Weir said. He mentioned that a deferred prosecution agreement might be necessary in order to protect the company's ability to get federal contracts. That is actually not true. That is another falsehood that has been disseminated about this controversy.
The government has already granted an exemption to the ineligibility and suspension policy, and that exemption allows SNC-Lavalin to continue to bid on federal projects even though it would otherwise be banned due to its charges. Also, the government has already indicated plans to extend that exemption even if the company is convicted, so the company can get an exemption, even after convicted, from the ban on federal bidding. If that were the government's only goal here in shelving these charges, it wouldn't need to interrupt the trial; it can do so under its current powers with an exemption from the bidding ban.
For Mr. Erskine-Smith, who mentioned that the motion is premature and that we ought not to hear from Jody Wilson-Raybould until such time as she has had her chance to submit her additional documentary evidence to the justice committee, we would be prepared to amend the original motion to read that she would appear here within a week of having submitted additional documentary evidence to the justice committee. That would solve the problem that Mr. Erskine-Smith is worried about. It would ensure that her documentation is received by committee and published by that committee's chair and available to all members around the table. That way, we would all be dealing with the most up-to-date evidence when the hearings go ahead.
I know that I don't control the speakers list, but I would invite Mr. Erskine-Smith to respond to that compromise.