Thank you, Chair.
My frustration today is that we've really gotten nothing done. We have tried to request documents related to our investigation into the Trudeau Foundation. Liberals have filibustered it. We're now trying to create a mechanism by which we can get witnesses for our investigation into the Trudeau Foundation. The Liberals have excuses.
I don't have a great appetite to go past our scheduled time. Either the government is interested in doing this or not, and we have to keep coming back to it in subsequent meetings.
I will say very clearly to Mr. Fragiskatos that the motion I put forward does not summon witnesses. It authorizes the chair to summon witnesses on our behalf to ensure that we get witnesses by next week. I suspect what the chair will do is follow up with these witnesses. He will inform them that the committee has authorized him to summon them and that it is important that they provide more serious explanations or come. This motion provides the chair with the means to ensure that we have witnesses related to the Trudeau Foundation. It does not jump the gun. It does not prescribe that the chair will immediately jump to a summons. It is right and reasonable that the chair might try to engage in some dialogue first.
However, if the committee insists on prescribing every single step, I would submit to you that this is an obvious delay tactic. We don't come back until Thursday. If we decide today that we're going to ask the chair to send a letter and then we don't get a response to the letter by Thursday, then we have to have another motion to order the summons. I suspect we'll see more of this delay tactic from the government.
Again, either members are willing to help us get documents or witnesses, or both, or government members are continuing to put up roadblocks. The motion is clear. It does not summon witnesses; it gives the power to the chair to summon witnesses as may be required to ensure that we hear from witnesses.
I hope we're able to go to a vote on this today. If not, again, the posture of the government will be clear as they continue to disrupt this committee's ability to investigate the Trudeau Foundation. Paradoxically, they say it's because we have all these other things to study. Well, if we have all these other things to study, great, let's get to votes on these motions in a reasonable time frame so that we can complete the business we have in front of us.