I appreciate that, Mr. Chair.
I'll plead guilty. It was I who was speaking about Aristotle, but Machiavelli is very different, as we all know. I simply make the point—and Mr. Julian has opened the door for me to speak to this—that when I talk about the need for a professional public service that can provide advice, I'm putting the matter into context so that Mr. Julian can understand what's at stake here.
Public servants have contributed a great deal not just to Canadian democracy but to the development of societies going back to time immemorial.