Thank you. I appreciate the comments that were made by Mr. Keddy and Mr. Hoback, those by Mr. Keddy in particular. This is a very serious matter. I'm of course approaching it with a lot of gravity.
I don't accept the premise that calling the minister to this committee to clear the air would necessarily interfere with the investigation. Indeed, we have procedures that would address issues such as that. We could go in camera if this was the wish of the committee. There are many examples in Canadian history where ministers responsible have appeared at the same time as ongoing investigations were being conducted. Indeed, this is a matter that has been investigated now for several years.
I think the Canadian public's interest in getting to the bottom of this or having the minister explain why people should continue to have confidence in their tax system is really of paramount concern right now. I know that we could do this as a committee. It has been done on many other occasions with the use of our rules of procedure. I would not want to deprive Canadians and the minister of the opportunity to clear the air. It's important for Canadians to really understand what is going on when a cheque for $400,000 is given to a person who owes $1.5 million and is the well-known head of the Mafia. Canadians have understandable concerns, and we as a committee need to address those.