Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I want to thank our witnesses for their contribution to the work of this committee. We appreciate it. Unfortunately, we still don't have enough time to delve deeper into the issues.
I have a question for Ms. Mason, the former ambassador.
Ms. Mason, when the Government of Canada decided, based on an extremely lenient report by Global Affairs Canada, to lift the moratorium on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the Prime Minister defended himself. He said that the government would appoint Minister Champagne to this department, along with an independent panel of experts with a mandate to advise us on whether to authorize a given arms sale.
Several months and one minister later, this panel still doesn't exist. We met with Global Affairs Canada officials a few days ago. When I asked about this issue, I was told that the panel was still being set up. However, a number of civil society organizations have written to the minister to express their interest in being part of the panel. Global Affairs Canada hasn't responded to the civil society organizations that expressed interest.
Do you see this attitude on the part of Global Affairs Canada as a way of indefinitely postponing the establishment of the panel so that it can continue to do whatever it wants, basically?