Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm just filling in today. You and I have served on this committee before, and as the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Industry, I can appreciate where Mr. Carrie is coming from, having lived it, but I can also appreciate where the motion is intended to go.
We're faced with some difficult circumstances now with respect to our military initiatives. We had Mr. O'Connor, for example, come before the committee. We know very well there are things that they can and cannot say. Nevertheless, it was an opportunity for the committee to engage. The minister knows this very well, as the parliamentary secretary very eloquently pointed out. But I think it also sends a signal, Mr. Chairman, if I may suggest—the willingness of the minister to come before the committee. On the part about two weeks, I can't say, because we know how busy the ministers are.
What triggered for me, if you want to add my comments, Mr. Chairman, is the fact that the minister has been in this place for such a period of time. We know ministers are all over the map trying to do the best they can. But just the fact that he could come before the committee is what I'm encouraging. The members will have an opportunity to ask questions. The minister knows very well the guidelines he's working under, and it's his privilege to say, “I'm sorry,” as the Minister of Defence, for example, in our committee has responded, “I am not permitted to...”, etc. And that's most likely what the minister, on specific questions, will respond with.
I would encourage the parliamentary secretary to invite the minister. If they so choose—the members, that is—to ask these questions, and if they get open-ended...or responses that really don't make any sense, then they have to be prepared for that. I fully respect the process, and it is information that cannot be divulged, should not be divulged.
Mr. Chairman, I think there is also a responsibility on our part, as members, to convey what we're hearing from our constituents—our concerns and what's going on. I think that's where Ms. Nash is coming from.
I would say if she's prepared to understand these guidelines—that the minister might come and you won't get too many answers—without any hostility, I'd be prepared to move in that direction.