Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to ask for the witnesses' indulgence and patience as I go over some facts.
We have a Conservative colleague here waving around redacted or incomplete documents. He's taking exception to this, perhaps rightly so. I'm not saying that this is a good thing or a bad thing.
I just want to remind you that the end of Mr. Harper's Conservative government was marked by a contempt of Parliament, the first in Canadian and Commonwealth history. Why? It refused to give parliamentarians the costing documents for certain measures. These include tax cuts for big business, the purchase of fighter jets and repressive measures tied to its law‑and‑order philosophy.
I find it quite ironic that a Conservative is getting all worked up when a Conservative government under Stephen Harper was found in contempt of Parliament for refusing to give documents to parliamentarians. I don't know whether this amounts to hypocrisy or forgetfulness.
I apologize to the witnesses for this tangent. However, I wanted to bring up this fact.
When you spoke in September, you said the following:
“We do one last check again, of course, before the appointments”.
What do you mean by “one last check”?