It's an absurd notion, Mr. Chair.
I found you to be a fair chair. I don't find your comments around this particularly fair and I find it absurd to say this is some kind of kangaroo court that continues on forever.
The reality is, in the same way that a minister appearing before a committee has availability issues that have always been respected by all parties, Mr. Mulcair has availability issues. To be here for an hour, certainly; there's no doubt about that. An open-ended appearance, I think, Mr. Chair, quite frankly, anyone would see through that as a kangaroo court set-up. It is completely inappropriate.
Mr. Chair, what we have is a kangaroo court appearance that the Conservatives seem to be putting into place. It's completely inappropriate.
I'll seek direction through you, Mr. Chair, to the clerk. I'm not even sure that it is even appropriate. If you're saying open-ended.... If we're saying an hour, I think there's availability there, no doubt. In fact, I know as Mr. Christopherson offered the amendment and we all voted for it, that Thursday, May 15, is available.
There's question period to prepare for. The leader of the official opposition has other responsibilities. I'd suggest, through you, first to the clerk, that to have a motion like Mr. Christopherson's is completely in order. Second, to my other colleagues around the table, I don't think it's a winning strategy to say, “We're going to do a witch hunt and we're going to bring our pitchforks and torches,” and not extend the normal courtesies that all parties always extended to all ministers, whether Liberal or Conservative, in the past at all times. This is a huge change and it would be very unfortunate.