Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have lived through debacles with the Canada census, which was seen as a model for many democracies for many years. We saw the outsourcing to Lockheed Martin, which we were able to stop under the Liberals—that was a Paul Martin regime decision—because it would have made our private information vulnerable to the United States under the Patriot Act. Nevertheless, Mr. Sheikh and Mr. Smith resigned.
I'm just curious about the Conservatives' renewed faith in the interim chief statistician right now, given their history of wanting to eliminate the long-form census under Stephen Harper, and of Tony Clement, as the former minister of industry, making stuff up on the fly about the census, including talking about putting people in jail. That's the history we have here at this committee with regard to the Conservative Party and the census. I would like further clarification about whether or not they have changed their position on the census and value having the interim chief statistician come to this table, or whether they're going to attack that individual when they come here and try to eliminate the census again.
That's what I gain from looking at this motion here, because it seems highly unusual that the Conservatives have actually renounced their position, given their history here, their former minister of industry Tony Clement and what took place.
At the same time, they're one of the star witnesses for this motion that was presented to us at the last moment.
I have a lot of reservation about this, again, from having fought against the previous outsourcing to Lockheed Martin and having fought to continue the long-form census, which was seen negatively by the Stephen Harper administration and up to today. I'm not sure where the Conservatives stand with regard to the chief statistician. I do not want the chief statistician to come here and be attacked or manipulated, versus what we have in the motion here. Again, to the Conservatives, is this a witness that they see as a value-added aspect to the motion, in terms of wanting to have the information come forward, or is it actually a front to try to eliminate the census again?