I'll address that.
We have had lots of problems with the departments. I think ESDC is just the cream on the top adding to the issue of refusing to comply with Parliament. We've extended lots of opportunities and written several times to each of the departments that have refused. We heard in committee from two different deputy ministers when their ministers were here that they didn't believe they needed to comply.
The correspondence coming back from the departments is almost.... Ms. Vignola talked about not wanting to use unparliamentary language. I'm at that point right now as well. It's almost at a level of arrogance. We've had them quoting law, how it violates the Constitution to obey an order of Parliament and how they were following a past practice of ignoring Parliament in refusing to hand over these documents. One of the departments out and out said “No, we are not going to give you anything.”
This committee, I believe, has bent over backwards and been accommodating. A lot of it has arrived late. It's like, okay, we wish you would comply with an exact date. We've extended dates. By and large, these departments....
We've written several escalating letters, from polite to less polite to even less polite and more direct, reminding them of the motion and very clearly of what the powers of committee are. They have responded by saying, “No, we'll follow the ATIP rules,” or “We're not providing it.” We heard, I think, CBSA say in this committee, “We'll take it under advisement” and that they had to balance it.
I'm sorry for being on the high horse here. We've given these departments every opportunity to do this. Then, today one of the departments comes back with a slap in the face.
My French is, frankly, quite horrible. I've spoken French twice in the House in seven years here. I've tried, but it's not good. However, our rules and our laws are that it's both languages. Our rules and our laws also say, in the green book, very clearly, the powers of committee.
It's not once. Sometimes we have sent three or four letters demanding this. We quite literally just get a “No, we're not interested. We don't believe we have to.”
I'm happy if it's the will of the committee to make one more attempt, but we've given them several clear, unambiguous statements of what is required of them. If it's the will of the committee, I will do that.
It's Mr. Godin, Mr. Barrett, Mrs. Vignola and then Mr. Kusmierczyk.