Thank you, Madam Chair.
The clerk did inform us at the last meeting, when Mr. Richards was not present, that we are required to return a report by the deadline given to us. If that report includes a comment that we perhaps need more time, then that's a hurdle we can get to when we get to that point, but at the very least, we need to provide a report.
The deadline of June 23 was adopted by the House. It was voted on by all members who were present. My understanding is that it was only the Conservative Party that voted against it, so at least the Bloc and the NDP have agreed to the June 23 deadline, in addition to the Liberal Party.
The only thing I would add is that I have no problem hearing from good, solid witnesses about how we do this, but the reality of the situation is that the first panel we had today—and my understanding is that majority were “conservative” witnesses put forward by the Conservative Party—were just talking about whether or not we should be doing it. We're well beyond that; that ship has sailed. Parliament has decided that we're going to do it, and they specifically say how we're going to do it, not if.
Perhaps, as the steering committee or the subcommittee, we need to go back and revisit who these witnesses are and try to get a determination as to whether or not they're going to be providing constructive input on how we make this happen. We wasted, in my opinion, 90 minutes today with witnesses who offered very little in terms of the how—