Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Telford, I have a question that is also a comment of sorts.
It's often said here that, because of its role, the NSICOP should be responsible for administering the interference issue. However, in the fall, the chair of that committee, David McGuinty, wrote to the Prime Minister to let him know that it was sometimes very difficult to obtain documents from cabinet to enable the committee to do its job properly. We know that the parliamentarians on the NSICOP must advise Mr. Johnston, who will have to decide whether or not to recommend an independent public inquiry.
We have a situation where Canadian universities received funding from foreign interests. There is growing evidence that the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation had ongoing ties with the Prime Minister's cabinet and that interference took place in at least 11 ridings, possibly more.
Hasn't this matter become too big to be handled within the government? Shouldn't it instead be the subject of an independent public inquiry, as your former colleague Mr. Butts recommends?