Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to touch very briefly on what Mr. Brison said and will explain a little better what my comments meant.
Chair, there have been two news articles released by the Liberal member of this committee over the summer. It wasn't until about an hour before this very meeting that I actually heard from that member.
This is typically a pretty collaborative committee. Ms. Nash and I have spoken a number of times. We are concerned about the economy. If we have trule concern, we talk to one another. It's in that vein that I made my earlier statement. If Mr. Brison was truly concerned and felt it was urgent, he would have spoken to me, so I was quite surprised not to have heard from him until a hour before this meeting began.
Pre-budget consultations are already being planned. People's schedules are being looked at and rooms and trips are being booked. As of Friday, we are about three to four weeks away from beginning pre-budget consultations. That is where we are going to hear from all of the folks we just talked about. I don't see the urgency of disrupting all of that. On Friday we are going to hear from people who will be able to update us immediately. Then I think this committee ought to continue, as it has done, listening not just to economists but also to hundreds of Canadians. We've apparently already received over 300 requests and written submissions to this committee. The pre-budget consultations will take all of those factors into account.
Let's not forget that economists provided projections that resulted in this invaluable document, “The Next Phase of Canada's Economic Action Plan”. It's thanks to those independent experts and economists that this document is now a living document.
Again, a proposal has been made. We'd be happy to hold the meeting on Friday to ensure that Canadians hear an update from our minister and from the Bank of Canada, but anything more, frankly, would not be acceptable at this point. I believe it's important that we stick to that agenda and continue with our pre-budget consultations. It's imperative, in my opinion, that we not do anything that might worry Canadians. I think hearing from the Minister of Finance and the Bank of Canada will help to reassure them, as they should be, that there is concern, but that we are proceeding, as parliamentarians, in their interests.
I don't want to see this committee grandstand. I don't want to see this committee play political games. Let us move to a vote. We know each other's positions; let's vote on holding a meeting on Friday, as proposed by Randy Hoback.