Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I am just reviewing some of this and looking at past witnesses who have been summoned, for example, Ms. Lauren Chen. Certainly she seemed to be, from the indictment, the receiver of $10 million from Russia to further Russian propaganda. That seemed quite severe. Kristian Firth certainly was summoned and ultimately looked to have been defrauding the taxpayer of millions of dollars.
I'm not aware that we are accusing Mr. Brown of any wrongdoing. I am not familiar with whether the Liberal members are or not, but it would just seem that this is quite a significant sledgehammer of a tool to use on someone who I don't believe is being accused of anything. Certainly we agree with inviting him to committee. That's why we voted in favour of that. However, to use a summons.... I'm not sure, Mr. Chair, and perhaps you could consult with the clerk. Has a summons been used in this way? I'm not very clear on that. It just would seem from our perspective that this is quite an abuse of this tool in this regard, given my knowledge of those who have been summoned.
Those are my opening comments, Mr. Chair, and I would appreciate it if you could provide a response.