I would like to reiterate that at the last meeting I was the one who had some reluctance about this format. Then a motion was passed through the committee to drop the international cooperation minister. Now we find that not only is that minister coming, but the parliamentary secretary is also at the front of the table. I concur that this will not be an opportunity for all the opposition parties to really ask the questions they have around the issue of the detainee transfer agreement and the history of it.
We did reiterate again that the Minister of National Defence has been requested to come before this committee. He had set a date to be here and then cancelled that appearance. In no way does this meeting with five representatives take the place of his appearance with General Hillier at the Standing Committee on National Defence to answer the questions that all of us have put to them.
I know the letter has gone out after the committee reiterated that request, and I'm wondering if we've had any response yet from the minister's office.