Thank you, Madam Chair.
I agree on the addition of the two witnesses that Ms. Vandenbeld suggested to the committee.
In my opinion, Ms. Alleslev is showing common sense in suggesting that we issue a written invitation first. If the invitation is declined, we will issue a summons to appear to these people. If that will solve the problem for everyone and build consensus in the committee, so much the better.
Now we should clarify the situation with Mr. Wernick. Is he ill or not? I don’t know how we can confirm if he is able to come in and testify because right now it is unclear. If he is able to, he absolutely must come, because he is a very important witness and the committee wants to hear what he has to say.
For obvious reasons, as Mr. Bezan explained, we need to issue a summons to appear in Mr. Trotter’s case. We would not want his superiors to prevent him from coming to testify. So he needs to be completely free to do so, and a summons to appear seems to me to be the right way to give him that freedom.
As for Ms. Astravas and Mr. Wernick, I am of the opinion that we should first send them an invitation in writing. If they refuse it, then we will summon them to appear.