I told Mr. Savage that I would give him two or three minutes. You too, Mr. Lessard. If anyone on that side has a quick question to ask, I am happy for him to do so, but we really are at the end of the round.

Mr. Savage.

5:25 p.m.

Liberal

Michael Savage Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS

I don't have a question, Chair. I just want to make a comment. One of the things that makes me uncomfortable at committees is when we have officials here and it appears that we're in conflict with the officials. I have no issue with the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development. I appreciate Madame Binette, Mr. Vermaeten, and Monsieur Beauséjour coming here.

We have significant issues on many occasions with their political masters, and we've made that clear, but I know it's not always comfortable. I appreciate the officials coming here and doing the best they can with the questions we have.

Thank you, Chair.

5:25 p.m.

Liberal

Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC

Mr. Lessard.

5:25 p.m.

Bloc

Yves Lessard Bloc Chambly—Borduas, QC

This is along the same lines, Madam Chair. I am happy that you are chairing the meeting because I know that, in the past, we have had situations where the officials whom we invited were given a great deal of latitude in providing us with information, even when the calculations had been done, and so on. It seemed to me that, with the rights and the authority we have as a committee, we should have received the information automatically. I have a hard time understanding the situation. They have the information and they have to get authorization to send it to us. This is by no means a criticism of our friends the officials, but I find this political way of doing things very tiresome. I regret the fact that they do not have the flexibility they require to provide us with the information. Seldom have I sensed such a malaise all through a meeting, in the answers given to questions asked by our colleagues and by ourselves. Once again, my criticism is not directed to our friends.

Madam Chair, I am not sure how we go about stopping this game of cat and mouse that is being played here. We are the ones who have to make the decisions, and if we want those decisions to be enlightened ones for the public good, we must have all the information.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Vice-Chair Liberal Raymonde Folco

Mr. Lessard, that is why I stepped in a few moments ago to tell our witnesses that I would appreciate, that is, that the clerk of this committee would appreciate being informed if ever it is not possible to provide all the information that the members of this committee have asked for. At that point, we can follow up. At the moment, we have no reason to suppose that the information will not arrive. So let us wait and see. If that is not the case, we will be able to react accordingly. Anyway, it is recorded in the transcript of this meeting.

Ms. Binette, Mr. Vermaeten, Mr. Beauséjour, we would like to thank you. I am always impressed by number crunchers such as yourselves, and I include Mrs. Beaudin in that group.

Thank you very much, and we look forward to seeing you again.

Members, would you stay for two seconds just so I can give you the information for next week?

If you remember, Tuesday's meeting will be divided into two parts, with four witnesses for the first hour and four witnesses for the second hour, as will Thursday's meeting, with four and four. This leads us to a really major problem, because when do we do clause-by-clause?

I am awaiting the return of our chair so that we can discuss with him, possibly even on Monday, when we can add an extra session. We might be able to do the clause-by-clause on Thursday. We have to; we have no choice. We must table it by Friday. We have promised.

Thank you so much.

The meeting is adjourned.