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.