Mr. Chair, I am astonished by Mr. Lukiwski's comments. There are seven million francophones in this country. We've been waiting for answers from the government on this matter for four months. It would seem that Mr. Lukiwski thinks that it’s appropriate to deliver in one official language documents that were requested over four months ago now. It would be appalling if he dared insist that these documents be accepted now. It would be to the detriment of Canadians.
Mr. Chair, was any explanation given to you whatsoever when these documents were forwarded to this committee? Is this pursuant to the requests made to the government on October 6, deadline November 24, to return these documents? Is this all the information that parliamentarians have been asking for now for over four months?
After hearing for two days from you, Chair, and rightly so, and from ministers, that this committee was not seized whatsoever with the F-35 issue, even though it formed part of the opposition day motion and the Speaker's ruling, can you help us understand why this is happening today, on a Friday, four months after the request was made, and not in bilingual form in compliance with committee or government rules?
It just smacks of desperation, Mr. Chair. What's going on?