I'm going to try to be brief, Mr. Chairman.
I've never seen this in the history of the Standing Committee on Official Languages. It's true that this is a committee that normally shouldn't be political. Since 1998, every time we've wanted to ask a minister to appear before the committee, we've never argued as we are doing now.
Mr. Lemieux said that the questions will have to be direct and specific. Mr. Chairman, I won't present my questions to Mr. Lemieux the day before to determine whether they are good or not. I'm going to ask my questions, allow the minister to answer them and see what comes out of them. She'll answer the way she wants, and I'll feel good about the questions that I've asked her. I don't have to ask anyone whether my question is good or not. I can live with my question and with the answer.
We're inviting the minister responsible for official languages to the committee. She may be accompanied by whomever she wants to assist her in answering the questions ask her. That's just normal. I must admit that Mr. Gravel is right to ask whether she is competent, because every time we've asked a minister to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages, we've run into difficulties. This isn't the first time that has happened; one need only read the blues from our other meetings.
A little respect, please. We want to have the minister appear before the committee; let's vote on this question and it will be resolved.