Before you start the clock, I just want to raise a point of order.
The notice of this meeting went out late on Friday. The same government officials were going to appear. I understand that government officials knew late on Friday that they were going to appear. We as committee members didn't know who was appearing before committee until 9:22 this morning. It gave us little time to prepare. “Government officials” is a broad, sweeping group of individuals across the Canadian Armed Forces and Department of National Defence. It could have been anyone from the commander of NORAD operations to the CDS, down to a wing commander in Cold Lake.
We have to raise the point that we need proper notice so we can prepare and make sure that we're not wasting the time of witnesses, this committee and members, who will ask the questions that need to be asked in this study. I would just caution the chair to make sure that he's respecting the rights of members so that we are properly prepared and can do our jobs in a timely manner—and today he's not.