Thank you, Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Johns, for proposing that. However, as used as I am to the NDP throwing a lifeline to the Liberals these days, any notion that we should remove this clause is simply going to put the committee in the unfortunate position of having no leverage to ask the minister to come.
As the committee members all know, ministers will come only if they so choose. They're not compelled in any way, shape or form. This clause is there as an effort to compel the minister with a consequence if she does not appear before the committee, which is the suspension of this study.
Now, I don't know, maybe I'm being facetious and maybe the minister will come in good faith before the committee prior to November 20, but I would not wager that it's improbable that the minister would find other places to be—perhaps looking for Waldo, who is also missing—and not appearing at the committee before November 20.
If we strike this clause, then we will simply continue on with where we are right now, with no knowledge from her or from her department officials as to what their position is, what their knowledge is or what their experience is before this committee as we continue on our journey, which would basically undermine the entire notion of the minister and department officials coming here in the first place.
I don't know why, Gord, as a member of an official opposition party, you wouldn't want to hear from the minister and from the department officials. I wouldn't presume to impugn your motivations, but it would seem to me that this would only serve to weaken the motion, and I don't know why that would happen.