Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to make a couple of foundational remarks to wrap up. I don't want to be much longer, Mr. Chair, I really don't, but I am inspired by a few statements. Chief among them is the statement by Mr. Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada himself. I believe he meant this when he said it. I really do. Let me just read the remark into the record again. It is something that he said some six years ago, as reported in the Montreal Gazette.
He said:
Without adequate access to key information about government policies and programs, citizens and parliamentarians cannot make informed decisions, and incompetent or corrupt governance can be hidden under a cloak of secrecy.
I think that is irrefutable in its wisdom and irrefutable in its impact. I think it informs the five points put before you today in this motion.
I would also refer the testimony of Dr. Franks--Professor Franks--as also being irrefutable. Each of us can go back and examine the record, as we have with respect to Mel Cappe's testimony and with respect to the testimony from the associate secretary of the Treasury Board and beyond. It boils down to a simple conclusion, and I asked that question earlier today of two cabinet ministers. They refused to answer. I think it's an important question that informs these five points.
With all that has transpired here over the last four months, limited just to this issue that we're treating here in this committee and leaving aside the government's conduct elsewhere--as we should rightly do in this instance--the question to ask of the government and of the ministers who were here today is a simple one: why shouldn't Canadians hold this government in contempt?
With all of the evidence, all of the conduct, all of the performance yesterday--walking in and dropping documents, which only fulfilled 15 of 72 requests--it's interesting, Mr. Chair, how that question is really a question that we're framing for our drafters. I believe deeply that these five preliminary conclusions ought to help inform this difficult drafting job for our parliamentary drafters.
With that, Mr. Chair, I submit this motion for your and the committee's consideration.