Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate the comments made by Madame Faille as well.
Just to respond to a point with regard to the example I used of $3,400 for a press release of 1,300 words, that pertained to outside consultants. I actually have a great deal of respect for our public servants and the work they do. The point I was trying to illustrate was this government's mismanagement in spending. I don't want to go down that line of debate, but that's the point I was trying to make. I wanted to clarify that.
However, in the spirit of cooperation, I understand that we've all made our points, and there are witnesses here as well today. I think we need to move ahead with committee business.
I would suggest or recommend—part of my recommendation goes along the lines of Madame Faille's comments—that as information becomes available, we need to look at it.
If you look at the last paragraph of the motion, there was a specific request made for a hard copy from 2007 until today of communications between a numbered company, 4373413 Canada Inc., LM Sauvé Ltd. and Paul Sauvé, Varcan Communications Inc., Gilles Varin, and any of the government officials either elected or not. It is in regard to information pertaining to that, if that can be made available to the committee as soon as possible. As the other information becomes available and is properly translated, then we will obviously take that into consideration.
That deals with the prioritizing of information and giving the department further direction. I think that helps to deal with some of the concerns I had and that other members expressed when this motion was passed. At the same time, it would allow the department to work in order to provide us with all the information that's relevant to this.
My friendly recommendation, or amendment, or suggestion would be that we get this additional information as a first priority, and then, subsequently, as the other information becomes available, that it would be shared with committee members.