I have a question for James on order for ministers to attend. This is for the ministers to appear separately, and there's a proviso that if they don't attend, the committee ought to refer it to the House. I've not seen that before. Is there a precedent for doing this? I understand where witnesses don't attend and then the committee reconvenes and says, “Well, the witness hasn't attended”, and then issues some statement or refers it to the House. Is it normal to have...? In five years I've never seen it, so I'm just curious. It's a bit pointed, I would say, as far as it goes, and to pass something like this unanimously, it might be helpful to soften the edges of it a bit. I think the ministers are amendable to attending, so perhaps we can amend it in some way so that there is not this implicit suggestion that if they're not going to attend, we're going to take some forceful action.
On December 1st, 2020. See this statement in context.