I'm also fine with the wording with respect to “discretion”, and I can live with five minutes, but I actually think it does a disservice to Canadians who want to appear before our committee. I have been on the other end of the table. I have been a witness appearing at parliamentary committees on important issues and have taken great time to prepare statements.
I think that sometimes it's important to remember that it's not all about us. It's not all about our questions. I do think the five minutes can be extremely limiting to expert witnesses whose opening remarks we want to have. I think that is important. I can live with it, but I hope the committee recognizes that this is about our witnesses, too, and I hope the chair will use that discretion.