It's a pleasure to be back, Madam Chair.
I think that we can come to consensus here.
I have a couple of things just for my colleague's edification. It's my understanding that the motion that was passed by unanimous consent in the House, which allows for virtual or hybrid sessions, expires on December 11. That's under renegotiation by our parties right now. I anticipate that there will probably be some capacity for us to meet over the break, I would hope, even within the bounds of whatever IT is saying about whether we can or cannot meet.
What I would suggest is this. If I understand what my colleague Mr. Masse is saying, the ministers would appear for one and a half hours each by themselves with some ability for the clerk to finagle when that happens. I think that would be sufficient.
This motion shouldn't be rejected just because of scheduling issues. Again, I would put on the record here that I think it is incumbent on the whips of our parties to figure this out. If we were in a normal situation, this wouldn't be an issue and we would just be scheduling meetings. We shouldn't be getting into a situation where technical issues supersede our rights as parliamentarians to conduct the business of the nation through this committee.
I would support giving the clerk some latitude with an hour and a half per minister by themself to be slotted in as is possible with the current technical limitations, but which shouldn't be an excuse for us to not be able to do this in a timely manner given that this is, I think, the number one topic on most people's minds in Canada right now.
Thank you.