This is different, because what we've done is get a background from the Library of Parliament. My recollection is that this carries a little more weight. We're actually asking a law clerk from the House to provide an opinion as to what the committee can do and what its options are legally. If we ask the chair to request an opinion from the clerk--well, there are a couple of people, and it's up to them to decide who deals with the file--I think it would give us an opinion as to next steps.
For what it's worth, my opinion is that as a committee of Parliament, we can ask to have a witness appear and we can ask the government to provide the requisite travel documents.
To answer Mr. Abbott's question, we usually pay to have committee members travel, and I would suspect that would be the case in this instance. If there's an issue with that, then maybe we should chat about it, but I think the clerk has said before that travel for any witnesses to appear before a committee is paid for by the committee.