Thank you, Mr. Kramp.
I can only assure you from the perspective of the chair at least, and working with our clerk and our table, we have been as precise as we could be, so nobody could say anything negative about the way the committee has proceeded.
I take your point that what we need to ascertain in fact whether the individual is here. Unfortunately, we are now left with the situation that the only way we can do that is to issue the summons and have the logistics officer of the House track her down.
In order to do that I asked the clerk, in anticipation of whether we would be in this position or not, to prepare the documentation so that it would be as precise and as objective as possible. On the basis of that, she has done something that's consistent with all the House rules, all the procedures, and has a form in both official languages that includes the name of the individual who will be summoned to appear and give evidence before the committee on matters relating to the study of the Auditor General of Canada's report on the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.
We're going to have to give her a date. We can deal with that date. Obviously it's unrealistic to do it this Thursday, but I'm proposing February 8 because that's the next available date. As I said, we can deal with that once there is a response from the logistics officer. But a date has to be given. She'll be given the date, the day, the time, and the House of Commons committee room number--this room number, because we're scheduled to be here--and be told that it’s this building and to remain in attendance until duly discharged.
We're scheduled to be here for two hours. We collectively may wish to be here for a shorter or longer time, in which case she can leave at the appropriate time. All of that is repeated in French. It's then transferred onto an official type of document that I have to sign, and the logistics officer receives it and goes about determining where Madame Ouimet is and delivers the document.
Just to anticipate what might happen, if the logistics officer is unable to find her before February 8, he will then report to us and we'll have to make a determination. Okay?
So I don't know how someone could be more reasonable.
Mr. Saxton.