I've experienced it, and I want to share my experience. The goal isn't to target people who may not have done their job well. In other words, I don't want to attack the clerk about her work. I just want measures to be taken from now on so that we're informed as soon as possible about the confirmed witnesses and so that we can properly prepare and do excellent work for official languages.
The case I'm submitting to you is very clear: I met with this person in my office on Monday morning at 10 a.m., and it was on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. that we received the notice of meeting for Thursday. Since this is a very sensitive file, I wondered whether anyone in management was withholding information.
I would like to ask that we be informed as soon as possible. The person who came into my office on Monday morning had received the invitation on the previous Thursday or Friday. That means we lost the opportunity to use the weekend to prepare. I understand that we don't work 24 hours a day, but if we want to be better parliamentarians and do a thorough job, we have to be informed about the witnesses who have confirmed their attendance. It isn't normal for one of the witnesses to tell me that the committee will be starting a new study on Thursday.