Thanks, Madam Chair.
Mr. Garrison, I thought everything was quite friendly to this point, frankly.
It seems that everybody agrees that the speaking order in the second round can be changed, but some of us are only prepared to do that in exchange for a reduction in time for the opening remarks, which I think is fair.
Mr. Moore, I take your point. If somebody shows up expecting to speak for 10 minutes and then they're told they can speak for only five minutes, that's inappropriate. However, the witnesses are going to be told well in advance that they have only five minutes. As I said earlier, I have faith in our chair. You know from your experience that 10 minutes becomes 12 minutes and five minutes becomes seven minutes. Even when we're asking questions, six minutes becomes eight minutes sometimes. You have to have flexibility in these things. If our goal is to accommodate the NDP and the Bloc in getting their question slots, and making sure that everybody has an opportunity to speak, which we all agree on as being a good idea, then I think a reduction in the time is acceptable. The witnesses are going to be told in advance and we do have the flexibility of the chair.
Mr. Garrison, I might suggest to you that we vote on it all together. I wouldn't want to see a situation in which the people who are in the second camp I mentioned earlier, those being the ones who are in favour of changing the order but only if the introductory remarks time is reduced as well, are put in a position where they have to choose—sort of an all or nothing. I think it would be in everybody's best interests if we did this as one motion.
Thank you, Madam Chair.