Thank you, Chair.
I just want to pick up where Denis left off. Certainly when we asked for three, we got two. Fewer ministers is more. He put forward a very good point, Mr. Chairman, for discussion: who takes precedence? We've had joint sessions with the Senate and the House of Commons committees in the past, and they've worked well, only because there were special circumstances.
But I must say to you that I'm not pleased, only because.... I don't want to use the word “set-up”—I don't like that word—but it certainly does not give this committee the opportunity, given the circumstances, given the issues all of us have laboured on and the witnesses who have come before us, to try to explain to Canadians, because we've taken away time and have now added more witnesses.
I would then ask you, Mr. Chairman, as you've done always, to be very vigilant with the time. I would like to say—I'll make this comment with respect to my good friend General Henault, who was here the other day trying to give us so much information—that we know traditionally the chair says to the witness, “You have 10 minutes”, for example, or whatever it is. As you have done so admirably over the past little while, you've cut us right there, maybe, a bit of flexibility, so that 10 minutes could be fully taken advantage of.
But in closing, Mr. Chairman, I tell you that I am not pleased. It looks very nice. I agree with what Russ said. It's a lot of work to get so many ministers in one committee. I don't even think it's happened before, not that I can recall. But given that you made this effort, Mr. Chairman, there should have been more time to really reflect the seriousness of why we wanted these ministers there.
Thank you.