I'll be very brief. I think we support Mr. Blaikie's comments.
Yes, there is the opportunity, perhaps Monday, for a meeting, though I think we should take time, considering it's $7.4 billion of spending. It's an unprecedented spending amount. We've heard repeatedly, in many other committees, that the minister shows up and is not able to address the $7.4 billion that's in table A2.11. We heard in the public safety committee and we heard in this committee that ministers have come but are not able to explain in detail one penny of what the money is being asked for. In fact, we actually heard, in this committee, a senior assistant deputy minister and a chief financial officer say it was preposterous for Parliament to ask for details of spending before we granted the authority.
I think we're addressing a culture issue, which Mr. Ferguson has brought up, in which we have assistant deputy ministers telling Parliament that it's preposterous to ask for details of the spending, saying that they want authority first to spend the money before they will deign to allow Parliament and therefore taxpayers to vote on it. I think it's a very important issue that Mr. Blaikie has brought up, and we fully support it.