Yes, and I'm almost there. I promise, Mr. Chair. I thank you for your latitude once again. I really do appreciate it. That's the Edmonton kindheartedness showing through.
I'll finish here with this quote from David McLaughlin, president and CEO of the Institute on Governance, who says.... Again, I want to thank my colleague Mr. Barrett, because he made my point for me once again with his comments, in trying to connect this issue to ministers and elected officials.
I want to read here—this is why it's important—from Mr. McLaughlin. This is what he writes:
The ArriveCan scandal was a failure of public servants, not politicians. While ministers are still accountable to Parliament for this failing, the public service was responsible....
That's important. This is what the Auditor General, the procurement ombudsman and the CBSA executive director have pointed to in their work, where they shone their spotlight and flashlight. This is what they found: This is a failure of process at the level of public service. These are shortcomings, failures and significant egregious gaps at the levels of officials, public servants and bureaucrats, and that is what needs to be fixed and where we need to focus.
My colleagues will try their hardest to make that connection with elected officials, but the issue here is that we need to look hard and focus our flashlight, not on politics but on facts. It's the only way we're going to solve this issue and make the procurement process better. The only way that we're actually going to do the report of the AG service and to respect the hard work of the Auditor General is if we are laser-focused on facts and on what the issue is, we put the politics aside for a moment and do the work that Canadians expect us to do here.
With that, I reiterate once again that I appreciate the work of Madame Vignola. She always has a way of listening to the folks around the table, bringing opinions together and trying to find the path forward. I thank her for that.