I appreciate the sentiment and certainly recognize that the minister has a very busy schedule.
We have had these types of discussions at this committee before about the minister's schedule. I believe that what we agreed to in the past was to leave the date in the motion and that if the minister were absolutely not able to make it by that date—the date is a fair way off at the end of the month—it could be brought back to the committee and the committee could consider an alternate proposal from the minister.
Given how busy everyone's schedules are, my concern with leaving it open is that this priority—which is really a pressing priority for communities in the region I represent—will simply drift into the future and won't get the attention and scrutiny it deserves.