We all appreciate a lot of what the Australians have done, and again, I appreciate your thoughts and your desires on the estimates reform. We know that alignment change is needed, and we support the measures that are going to give effective oversight to improve scrutiny.
We've heard several experts at PBO and others voicing great concerns about your proposed changes, though, and something as important as estimates and spending—which, you could argue, is the very reason, under our Westminster system, that we exist.... These are important voices that we would like to be heard.
In light of such, I am going to put through a motion. I don't have it written in French, so I'll just read it. In light of the minister's comments and in light of the seriousness of this matter as it relates to Canadian democracy, I'd like to move:
That the Committee invite: The Parliamentary Budget Officer, Jean-Denis Fréchette; The former Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page; and Michael Wernick, Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet to appear as witnesses in relation to the Committee's current study on Estimates Reform before making any recommendations.