Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I too want to, first of all, echo my frustration, as Mr. Kramp and many others on this committee have indicated. To say that I'm frustrated is putting it mildly, because we've been dealing with this since December 9, when the Auditor General put forward the report.
We've done everything. The chair has been very clear on all the steps we've taken. We've made calls. We've sent letters, and even a summons. We're doing everything we possibly can to reach Ms. Ouimet. As Mr. Kramp said, this is unacceptable. We clearly want to deal with some very important issues, issues such as the fact that millions of dollars were spent on setting up this office. Millions of Canadian taxpayer dollars were spent on setting up this office.
As Mr. D'Amours said, there were 228 complaints and no action. Some of those were dealing with issues of a fraudulent nature, possibly. We need to make sure that the Auditor General's comments about Ms. Ouimet's behaviour being unacceptable and inappropriate are addressed. We need to get to the bottom of this. We've done everything possible.
Our frustration is shared by many others. I've received e-mails on this and calls on this. Canadians want answers. They demand answers. That's why I think we need to take all possible steps within our domain to get to this as soon as possible. I don't think we delay this for another day or two days or two weeks. I think we need to address this immediately, because it's very frustrating. We need to make sure that we take all the appropriate actions so that we send a clear message, going forward, that anyone called before a committee shouldn't try to avoid coming forward.
We don't know the circumstances of where she may be. Clearly, she must be aware of the fact that this report was being tabled. Clearly, she's aware of the issues raised by the Auditor General and her response. So what's going on, and how do we get her to come before committee? That's what we need to do today. That's what we need to address. We need to make sure that we send the appropriate message by saying that she needs to be here as soon as possible. We need to find a way to deal with it.
I don't know if we need to send a report to the House, if that's a possible option. But we need to make sure that we look at all the possible options. I just want to echo my frustration, as well, because this is a very serious issue.