Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for joining us today and shedding light on the situation between India and Canada.
I'll refer to the statement made by the Prime Minister last September. In the hours that followed that statement, the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs told us that the Prime Minister saw fit to make the statement because the news was about to be released in a national media outlet.
I have two questions about this.
Does the minister's statement mean that, had the government not been concerned about a leak to the media, it would have kept this information secret?
Given the importance of India to Canada, why take the risk of souring relations with India, when the news was about to hit the papers the next day anyway?