Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I am actually looking for a compromise. I completely agree with Ms. Morin on the importance of our two hours of sitting time. I was thinking that I would not object to starting the meeting at 3:45 p.m. instead of 3:30 p.m., as long as everyone agreed to finish 15 minutes later.
I even propose a friendly challenge to you: start the meeting, scheduled for 3:30 p.m., only when everyone has arrived. Then add one minute to the end of the meeting for every minute we have waited for people to arrive late. I can guarantee you that, after two meetings, everyone will get with the program and arrive at 3:30 p.m., because very few people around this table want to extend their work day past 5:30 p.m.
In any event, I do not think we ought to cut off our work. Some witnesses travel much farther than we do to come and meet with us. We just have to get here from the House of Commons. Some people travel from far away in Canada to come and meet with us. I feel that giving them the time allocated for our meetings is the least we can do for them, as a matter of common decency, especially since their expertise is often very useful for our studies.
I see no good reason for shortening our meetings by 15 minutes. However, I am ready to consider any number of other formulas that would allow us to get our full two hours of sitting time back.