On the first part of your question, David, let me say that it's a time-honoured tradition that.... Well, on both parts of your question, number one, we usually don't spend time, especially committee time, on hypotheticals, but I'm willing to do that to answer your question. The second thing is, we don't try to impugn or determine motives from the words of another member. We determine from their actions and what they do or say in the House, but the motive behind it.... So I'm somewhat fascinated that you would think that a motive....
If what you're saying were true—you have this public inquest, and all the truth comes tumbling out—and at the same time you say that none of this happened under our watch, then from a partisan point of view I should have jumped on a public inquest, because it's all going to be stuff about the Liberals, according to what you're saying. We had nothing and we have nothing to hide on this, because it didn't happen under our watch.
I agree, David, we have a difference of opinion. You want the full public inquiry route, which at best is a multi-year process. I share the views of many people that the problems within the RCMP can't wait that long to be addressed, and that the men and women of the force who do their jobs every day so incredibly well that this force continues to have one of the best reputations as a national police force in the world.... I think they want this stuff dealt with also.
I would say that one of the litmus tests of the process we've put in place, as I did when I announced Mr. Brown would do the investigation, is that the very officers who were instrumental in bringing forward the problems—and I understand this committee feels they should be commended for that, and we do too, and that was actually part of Mr. Brown's recommendation—are themselves, by and large, not saying that this is a bad process we're following. As a matter of fact, the ones I've seen interviewed said they want to move along with this process, that they want to get things done.
So the people who probably had the most at stake, the people who had the most invested—literally from their hearts, because they took a big career challenge in raising these things—are themselves not clamouring for the inquest, because they believe this is moving along.
Now, we'll see in December when the recommendations come out. If there's a strongly different view, if we're not able to achieve what we want to achieve, I might be saying to you that maybe you have a point or maybe that you don't. But the task force needs time to work and to dig to the bottom of this.
All information was made available to Mr. Brown. I said in my previous remarks that he saw almost 4,000 e-mails and 35,000 pages of documents; he reviewed 100 hours of verbal testimony, had access to every person. The RCMP commissioner—