I'm going to start off by setting my politics aside for a moment. I just want to have a human moment if that's possible, heading into this third wave and after what has been a very long year, and say that I do appreciate that the minister continues to come back.
I feel that in this committee it is often the case that things become fairly confrontational. I want to just acknowledge that and I want to acknowledge that it is not personal when things become confrontational. There is a general feeling that I've been having about the way we do this work. We have limited time, and it sometimes feels like—and this is an “I” statement—the questions we're asking are not being adequately answered and sometimes it feels like witnesses and testimony to this committee seek to run the clock out in ways that don't provide us with the fullness of answers we're trying to actually get.
I want to go on the record to say that, Mr. Chair, because I know your job is tough and I know that we're all under a lot of pressure, but I want to note that I think the minister, in this particular role and in this particular crisis, has made an exemplary effort to continue to come back to this committee and even to avail herself, after the technical difficulties. I want to just say that with my first one and a half minutes.
With that being said, I need to pick up where we left off, which was a disconnect, quite frankly, between the honourable minister, through you, Mr. Chair, and her ADM, so I will ask the question to the honourable minister.
When you do procurement, do you include, domestically, taxes in your estimation of costs?