Thanks, Mr. Chair.
I have no doubt that if the Conservatives could delay this so that it does not happen, they would. That's why the first question I asked was about whether there is a drop-dead deadline.
However, I thought that the request for the information made sense. If it's available, it's more information, but again, that's assuming that what we're doing is real as opposed to just make-work or a cover for what the minister really wants to do.
To me, if it fits our time frame, let's not give the Conservatives any phony targets to go after on the process, because I really think this is important. This is close to my heart. When the minister said to me that this is what she wanted to do, I was elated. I was so thrilled because what happened is obscene. It's such an affront to democracy.
That said, again, I keep bringing this back to the government. The Liberals ran on a platform that committees were going to matter. The Liberals were the ones who said that there would be no parliamentary secretaries on standing committees, and I'm looking at two of them. And then—I wish I could go into the details—there was a meeting, an in camera meeting. I think it was Mr. Fillmore—I stand to be corrected—as parliamentary secretary, when we were talking about the initial directions for this report, and he had written pages. Well, I don't think that just came out of something he thought of the night before. When I was a parliamentary assistant to the provincial minister of finance, I didn't do an awful lot on my own. That's a career-limiting move.
Therefore, I have to assume that that's what the minister wanted. That was my first alert because up until then I was naive enough to believe that we actually were doing what the minister said and asked us to do.
To recap, I don't want to delay this. I, more than anything, want this in place so we never again see that happen, but I want to make sure that we've followed a proper process. I don't want to give the Conservatives, who I believe do not want this, for obvious reasons.... I believe they would try to delay, and that's why I asked about the deadline. However, if it doesn't delay the ability of the government to have this in place for the next election, why wouldn't we at least take it into account? It's the public. The money was spent. The minister wanted to hear what the public had to say. If it's available, in a timely way.... If not, then fine, leave it, but if it's available in a timely fashion that still allows us to meet a deadline that lets the minister bring in the legislation that we need, then why wouldn't we? That's my point.
I'll end on a positive note. I was very pleased to hear Ruby's comments. I watched you. I saw you sort of pass the nod test; as I'm talking, you're nodding. We really do have a lot of work in here. The real work is still to be done, but if this other information can help inform our final report, why wouldn't we? That's my only point.
Thanks, Mr. Chair.