Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First of all, just let me make a comment about our colleague, Arnold, who would have had a lot of thoughtful insights were he to be present at today's meeting.
I know, Minister, you were at his service on the weekend. I saw you there. It was a very busy service. There were a lot of people there. I saw at least three of the colleagues who are here, and I know there were others whom I didn't see. It's just an indication of how well respected he was on all sides of the House.
I want to ask you, if I might test the chair's indulgence on this point a little bit, about a matter that is not the matter on which you are appearing before us. It's not about Bill C-50; rather it's about the legislation that may be forthcoming regarding the subject matter of the CEO's report on the 42nd election.
What we've been trying to determine here in this committee is whether your legislation is likely to be forthcoming soon or whether it's further away. That will determine our course of action. Do we reopen our discussions into that matter, or do we just say that there is no point in pursuing it, there is not time for us to report back to you, for the information to get to you, or for the legislative drafting to occur?
I know when you were asked by the media, you were reluctant to respond. You want to make those comments in Parliament first, but we're now in Parliament so I thought I could maybe prevail upon you.