I did that to Senator Runciman one time. The House was ending and I was Solicitor General at the time. The Conservatives, Runciman, Harris, and law and order: you can imagine the run I'd had with him. He got up late one night towards the end when the House was getting ready to adjourn and said some really nice things about me as Solicitor General. I put them right in my householder: “even the opposition said he did a great job”. Yes, it worked.
Anyway, that said, this again is an example of why this is a good committee to be on, because there are smart, funny people here, with experience, who care, with an excellent chair. That's why it's so heartbreaking to see such an undemocratic procedure being taken. It speaks to this government's propensity for shortcuts. They're forever looking for democratic shortcuts.
I don't know about you, but one of the shows that I like to tape and keep on when I'm getting ready—and I don't know why, because it's about plane crashes— is Mayday. What I like about it is that at the end they talk about all the safety precautions that are built into that entire procedure.
I see this as similar. It's mayday, folks. Democracy is getting ready to crash and burn here. There are systems in place that prevent that. That's why a lot of that Mayday stuff is about shortcuts that are taken by pilots and co-pilots who are thinking that it's not important and it's not a big deal. Maybe you can get away with it eight or nine times out of ten, but that one time you can't, and this is the same way.
Yes, Chair?