I appreciate our digging into the schedule and trying to get a sense for what our legislative priorities are going to be over the next few weeks and months.
I have to say, though, that I have a deep concern I want to voice. The chief public health officer has turned down our invitation to come before this committee. I can't let that go unnoticed. Committees are supposed to be masters of their own domain. They're quasi-judicial. They have, I would say, significant legislative authority to have people come before committee. I can appreciate schedules being tight. I can appreciate the chief public health officer not having the schedule availability in these next couple of weeks to come, but to simply refuse to show up before the committee is a problem for me. I want to state that on the record today. If it is going to be a characteristic of this government or of the senior bureaucrats of this government to refuse to come before the committee, we're going to be headed toward a bit of a problem here and on a slippery slope.
I'm sure people are going to have lots to say about this. It is what it is. She refused to come before committee. That's not a small thing. I'm not suggesting that we subpoena the chief public health officer to appear before this committee, but I want to remind members of this committee that we do have the power within our quasi-judicial capacity to do that. I hope it doesn't become a pattern with this committee that people say, “No, I'd rather not go.”
I want to put that out there. I hope that, working through whatever channels we can on the government side, more care and consideration are given to the seriousness of the requests that are put before our government departments, particularly the most senior officers of those government departments.
Having said all of that, I look forward to getting into these studies and hopefully being able to provide some value to Canadians on these very important topics.
I also want to note that if there's a possibility, sooner rather than later, in the order as written.... I still think there's incredible value in having the four officers of Parliament who report to this committee present themselves—even if it's an hour earlier, rather than later—to update us on their past work and where they are. I'm concerned that if we wait until June, we might find a space where we've narrowed our focus so much that we haven't been able to take a step back and see exactly what's happening out there from the four officers of Parliament.
Those are my contributions. I look forward to hearing from others.