Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I have just a quick comment on the issue. First, around the importance of the McKinsey contracts, there is no doubt that we need to get to the bottom of it. The New Democrats support that, and of course, that work is under way at the OGGO committee. From what I understand, another committee, public accounts, is also looking into this as well. From what I understand, because some $25 million of the contract is related to immigration, we have a vested interest in seeing what happened with those contracts.
That said, because essentially the same documents have been requested at these other committees, we should wait for that material to appear, and because that ongoing work is being done at OGGO and other committees, we should see what happens. If the answers are deficient or the actions are deficient, no doubt we will come back to this committee.
I thank my colleagues for moving it and putting this on the table, and I thank my colleague for also saying that we should not vote against this motion but rather wait and see what the results are.
That said, on the schedule here today, I am frustrated, Madam Chair, with the lack of response or prioritization of key ministers on the Afghanistan file. I don't know why the ministers who were invited on four occasions prior to the holidays have said no, they can't come because they are too busy. Then, in the new year, they were also extended invitations to come, and they again said they were too busy. I am in agreement with saying that we need to move this forward and to compel the ministers to come.
It is important to note that the only minister who has accepted our invitation is the Minister of Immigration, but because this is a whole-of-government response, all the relevant ministers need to come as well. We are inviting only four of them, by the way, not all the cabinet ministers. It's only the four who are most relevant to the issues at hand.
To that end, Madam Chair, I would like to move the following motion:
That the committee invite the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of National Defence and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to appear before the committee for two hours with their officials consistent with the Afghan motion passed on October 7, 2022, by the committee; and if the ministers do not accept the invitation by Friday, February 3, 2023, the committee undertake to summon the ministers to appear before the committee based on the committee's schedule.