My understanding is that this committee passed a motion that no witnesses can be added without the committee having duly considered it in advance. There was quite a bit of consternation about that.
Mr. Cousineau has appeared before the committee as a witness before, so he's being recalled today without appearing on the meeting notice. We have Ms. Nicholson, who's been called specifically to answer questions. Mr. Cousineau has not been requested by the committee to be here.
Is it going to be the practice going forward that we can summon people out of the gallery to ask them questions? If so, are we going to do that today? Are we going to pull other people from the gallery? This is a very unusual practice. I don't think it's a good one, to be clear. It needs to be understood that, if it is sustained that Mr. Cousineau sit at the table, he's not permitted to speak unless questions are directly given to him. There are no questions he can answer unless they're put directly to him.
The committee didn't ask for him to be here.