He's a great colleague.
Here are a couple of ways we could resolve this impasse.
Conservatives want to move forward with the consultation on the BIA. We certainly would like to hear and we certainly do not want to upend any of the other business. In fact, I made several offers to suspend, but the Liberal Party was unwilling. That was mis-characterized, and the public was misled by a statement in the House of Commons that seemed to say that we were intentionally trying to cancel meetings, which everyone at this table knows, quite frankly, is just untrue. It's just a fabrication, and it's sad that it has gotten to this level. Conservatives are ready to move forward. We just believe that, when the government is spending $490 billion, the minister would like to speak to Canadians for two hours. That's $8 billion a minute.
It is an embarrassment that she will not come to this committee. She has three times refused invitations. This is the finance committee. As a parliamentarian, I'm nothing special, but I do represent 100,000 people from Northumberland—Peterborough South, and we all represent millions of Canadians. If Minister Freeland wants—