At first glance, regarding what the motion here proposes, I had some of my own concerns originally when we talked about whether or not we were the perfect format for this.
That said, over the past weeks, when we have asked questions about which tax benefit or tax credit the Liberal government would go after to balance its books, we have heard radio silence. Until Canadians get alarmed, whether about tax or health benefits or whatnot, it seems that the government is less than forthcoming in being transparent.
Perhaps if we received more of a substantive response in the House of Commons, we wouldn't be so concerned about whether or not we're getting the proper information. While I understand the member opposite—and he makes a good argument from that perspective—on the second perspective, we set out on this course, and suddenly the government is backtracking massively, putting the brakes on a motion that was agreed to, I think, by everyone. I think that's really unfortunate. It says either that the government has something to hide or that it wants to go ahead with reshuffling the deck on tax expenditures for its own budget without any input. If that's the case, then we will probably eventually have witnesses coming in here saying they weren't consulted, and the government will act without any sense of public input.
Yes, it's fine to say that the government is consulting and you have an economic panel, but they're not the government. They're an advisory group. This is Parliament. I think this is the people's House. We voted originally to look into this, and I find it quite strange that the government now is applying the brakes so hard because it does not want this committee to take a look into tax expenditures and how Canadians relate to them.