Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank committee members for passing the motion introduced this morning.
I believe this motion addresses my colleagues' concerns. The Canada Revenue Agency has all the means and all the tools to investigate and identify issues, whether it's an inappropriate situation, donations or the foundation's structure.
However, I'm concerned about our committee's approach, because we proceed differently than other committees. We work closely with facts and current events. Therefore, we need to let the agencies do their work, including the Auditor General of Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency. We will review their work afterwards, as they are responsible for answering the questions.
Our committee does not conduct baseline studies, and rightly so, because other committees that are more concerned with current events can answer questions of a political nature.
The committee can analyze procedures calmly and with some detachment, to ensure that the process is working properly. Otherwise, we ourselves will be interfering, as it were, in the activities and investigations of the officers appointed by Parliament to do this kind of work.
Therefore, I don't agree with this motion. I believe that comes as no surprise. We need to be careful about this sort of thing, otherwise we're going to undermine the Standing Committee on Public Accounts' mandate.
Thank you.