I don't think it's proper for members of this committee to use their time effectively to defame witnesses called to appear before this committee. They don't come of their own volition; they don't walk into this committee room to sit down and testify. They are asked to testify. When we have a situation where a retired colonel of the Canadian Forces comes to this committee....The only person who has been here for both sets of committee hearings is a retired colonel of the Canadian Forces, aside from the dean of a law school, who is not practising law.
To use your time to defame a person like that and suggest they are coming here on their own to troll for clients is outrageous. It's an outrageous statement, defamatory, and probably an abuse of a member's privileges to speak on the public record. I object to it very strongly.