Thank you, Chair.
Thanks very much, Glen. I appreciate your coming in.
I have to say that, like a few people here, I've been around the bush on this one, both here and also in a previous life at Queen's Park. We had a very similar thing. Scotty, you and I have been down the road on this a few times. I very much liken this kind of issue to the MPs' access to the House. The principle is a really big deal.
That's why whenever there is a prima facie case that members may have been held up in accessing the House, usually with the buses—that's the usual place where we have a problem—then we get into the details of it and find out just how much skulduggery is behind the incident that happened. I see this very similarly. The principle is a really big deal.
No government or entity or agency of government has the right to purport to the Canadian people that something is the law if Parliament hasn't passed it. I don't care how big your majority is; only Parliament can pass laws. Since it's not automatic—not everybody is a robot, and people can vote the way they want in the moment—it's not the law until it's the law.
I see this the same way. I have a real concern. With my background as a former Ontario solicitor general, the involvement of the police and their role in society and government, that interface, is an area that I have some interest and experience in, so I understand the severity of why you brought this forward.
I'm very much with Mr. Simms, Chair, in that a lot of this is going to turn on intent. It did happen, so the government has to take the hit for the fact that it happened. We want to hear some appropriate bowing and scraping about how it's not going to happen again.
But whether the government conspired with the RCMP to deliberately mislead the Canadian public or whether it was a comedy of errors remains to be seen. I think we're in the right place. I think that it was appropriate that this matter be sent here. It is a big deal. We need to treat it as a big deal.
I'm very much looking forward to our second meeting, where we will have the other side, if you will—there are always two sides—to get a sense of how close we are to conspiratorial action versus a bunch of clowns. To me, that will be the determination of how much time and how much effort we should spend going forward.
I don't really have any questions for you, Glen. I thought you made your case very clearly, very articulately. You backed it up. I have no questions for you, but I would afford you, if you wish, an opportunity to take the floor and clarify any other points you wish.