I say it in the best sense. We don't know each other extremely well, but everything I've seen from you, Mr. Chair, though we might disagree from time to time on certain points.... The point remains that I respect the fact that, as committee chair, you have the ability to issue a letter and to make it as stern as you want.
In line with that, again, I go back to the possibility of you simply reissuing a letter that's sterner and seeing where that goes. That's not something we've considered at this point. Instead, we want to go from a request being made to a request being turned down and then to a summons. It's not something that's been done before, in my experience. You mentioned it yourself. It is relevant to say again that in the committee you and I worked on, when a summons was eventually put forward, it came after a long time. It was not immediate. Here, we're rushing immediately to that outcome, which I have a huge problem with.
What does it say about this committee if we, through you, Chair, tell witnesses to come, they decline and we say that now we're issuing a summons? In other words, it's the most extreme kind of response that a committee can give. It's not good for this committee. It's not good for the reputation of this committee. It's not good for the reputation of members of Parliament, specifically us. I think that's something that can't be dismissed either, Mr. Chair.
Again, we have shown ourselves to be able to work together toward reaching a compromise. I wonder if members are still interested in pursuing that and wish to put that forward. I'm open to it. Liberal members are open to it, but of course, it depends on the wording and the precedent that it would establish. I don't want it to negatively affect any subsequent meetings that we would have at this particular committee or that other parliamentary committees would have, pointing back to that time in the summer of 2023 when the public accounts committee decided thus and so.
I know there are other members on the list who wish to share something. I'll leave my comments there for now and yield to them.