Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
What a pleasure it is to have the floor after several people have already spoken. I simply wanted to support my colleague Mr. Bélanger's reaction. I am stunned that Mr. Lord has responded in this way and, unlike your Conservative colleagues who won't stop questioning your authority, I am going to back you up, because I was actually at the meeting when the decision was made to invite Mr. Lord. It was a decision made legally by the body in question.
In any event, if some members do want to address the matter immediately, I would strongly suggest that we do this, because I find it outrageous that Bernard Lord would submit the first draft of his report to the government, undoubtedly for editorial purposes, and that he would refuse to come before elected representatives. He is not an elected member of the House of Commons. He should, at the very least, have had little respect for this parliamentary institution.
On behalf of the NDP, I insist that Mr. Lord must appear before this committee. And in this regard, I am confirming a decision which was made here legally last week.