So the idea of having a quickie meeting like this, as proposed by the partners over there, is something that is completely political. If we're going to try to take a reasonable approach on this issue in terms of hearing this, we have to work to compromise.
I think any reasonable person understands that in the middle of summer, this is not.... Some of the members have said that we do this all the time. We're not talking about a meeting that happens in October or February, when people generally are working and are not on vacation with their families. It's a lot easier for them to come on short notice then. I would point out that typically when we do that, it's one meeting of several. It's not usually the only meeting that you're going to have on an issue, when someone gets called three days before.
If I'm not mistaken, we're probably planning on having several meetings with many witnesses. If we really want to get a good...I'll use this terminology--maybe the honourable member on the other side doesn't understand it--“representative sample” of witnesses, perhaps there's a fairer way to do it.
We're not looking for a significant number of witnesses here. I think what we're trying to find is a representative group of witnesses on both sides of the issue so that we can actually give a fair hearing and make educated and informed decisions as parliamentarians.