Thank you, Chair.
To Mr. McKinnon, there is nothing more relevant in a discussion about proceeding to an order of business than describing the nature of that order of business. There is no possible way to be more relevant than to talk about what exactly I'm talking about, which is why it's important for us to proceed to the order of business that I have proposed to the committee.
As I was saying, back in the fall, the Conservatives, and Conservatives alone, took the position of insisting that the families of the victims be heard from about the impact of this prison transfer on them, on their communities, and on how it had changed their lives.
At the time, we did use all of the procedural tools available to us, not because we enjoy the use of procedural mechanics as an end in and of themselves but rather because they were the only and necessary means to ensure that Canadians who had been brutalized by the actions of this criminal were able to have their day in Parliament. We did that so that we could hear and make recommendations to the House of Commons about possible changes to the prisoner transfer rules that would respond to the experiences and the insights of these families.
That is the purpose for which parliamentary committees exist. It is to hear and receive information. It is to hear, within the broader community of parliamentarians, experts in particular policy areas, but then to share that knowledge with the broader deliberative assembly that is Parliament so that those insights can be used.