Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Again, I appreciate the previous session and the cooperation, but I would remind Mr. McTeague that we actually did have quite a contentious issue. Under the old way, in the first two rounds everybody got to speak twice, except for the independent. Because we believed that everybody on the committee was equal and should have an opportunity to speak, we were often in the position, as the government party, to give a speaking position to the independent, Mr. Arthur, because he did have some very significant things to offer the committee. Because of the one-hour meetings that we quite often did have, he wouldn't have had that opportunity unless the government had given up a speaking position. You can argue back and forth as to whether that's fair or not, but if Mr. McTeague remembers, the Bloc Québécois did have an issue with that, the Conservative Party giving a speaking position to the independent.
If you have the sheet in front of you and you do round one for seven minutes and round two for five minutes, round one would add up to 28 minutes and round two would add up to 20 minutes. That would allow everyone to speak at least once. The independent would be speaking less, of course, but in the old way, if you added the two scenarios, it came to 49 minutes.
So the idea of the round was not to in any way impair the uniqueness of the committee, but it was to enshrine the ability of the independent to speak. Because of the nature of our witnesses and because we do have a lot of work to do, it would allow him at least once in the two rounds to have the right to speak and contribute to the committee.