Madam Chair, thank you very much, and I'll be brief on this intervention.
I want to follow up on the intervention made by my friend and colleague Mr. Garrison, with whom I've served on this committee in the previous Parliament and again in this Parliament. He's somebody I respect and hold a great degree of appreciation for. He said that he has one goal, which is to root out sexual misconduct in the armed forces, and I think every member of this committee, in their own interpretation, is working towards that goal.
What I want to explore is the idea that the summons power—and I've made the point previously—is a heavy power, if not the committee's heaviest power, and has been infrequently, very judiciously and very rarely exercised, and never by this committee. It should be a power of last resort. There have been statements made by members in terms of the interaction that happened with Mr. Marques, the clerk's office and the chair's office, and something to the effect that Mr. Marques has been invited a number of times over the course of six weeks.
I'm not sure, Madam Chair, if the subcommittee on agenda and procedure has gotten together, looked at this and potentially made a joint statement to Mr. Marques as an invitation, if you will, explicitly from the vice-chairs and you to amplify the interest of the committee in hearing from him. If that step has not been taken, then I would submit to you, Madam Chair, that the summons power at this point is not a measure of last resort and that the committee still has other options with respect to the interaction with Mr. Marques.
Perhaps I could ask through you if the clerk would bring us up to date again on what the last interaction was and whether such an effort has been made by the subcommittee, by the vice-chairs of this committee, to really signal the interest of the committee and the priority that he would have as somebody who, in the words of Ms. Alleslev, would be very important to hear from. Even though the minister has already testified himself for six hours on this issue, it is not yet at a stage where the summons power could even conceivably be looked at as a measure of last resort.
Thank you, Madam Chair.