Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses today.
On August 18 Prime Minister Trudeau chose to prorogue Parliament for a term of six weeks. At that time, four parliamentary committees were studying what has been classified as the “WE scandal”. The WE scandal deals with the government awarding an up to $900-million contract to what we all know now, what the public knows, were very close contacts to both the Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers.
I find very interesting and do appreciate the comments from our witnesses. I think what we saw when we came back was that there was indeed not a reset. We saw that more committees that had tried to study this prorogation continued to be filibustered. This committee was the only one to successfully be able to eventually study this.
I would urge our witnesses today, as we don't know what lies ahead in the future, to be as forthright as possible in their answers. This may be the only time Canadians actually get to hear other perspectives on why this prorogation took place.
Dr. Brock, in an August interview with the Kingston Whig Standard, Mr. Gerretsen's hometown newspaper, you said, “Although you can understand the delay, the continued state of suspension with respect to a budget is troubling. I find the proroguing of Parliament quite troublesome.”
Dr. Brock, we sit almost two years without a budget still. Can you elaborate on what troubles you the most?