Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In response to my colleagues, I'd say that I'm a Liberal because I firmly believe that we have a duty to show humanity and to show respect for families. Those two things are part of our Liberal values.
There's currently some confusion between a committee and a court.
This committee's mandate is to conduct studies. During the week, we have the opportunity to prepare by reading our documents and reviewing the witness list. I don't see anything in the committee's mandate that justifies investigating a vulnerable family. I have a hard time accepting that idea. There's no point in turning away from reality. It's there, and it has to be dealt with.
There's nothing worse than the pain of losing a family member. That mustn't become a tool for political persuasion. That's my opinion, and it has never changed. I've been through this type of thing before in other committees. I've been a member of committees since I got into politics in 2015, and I can tell you that I've seen it all.
However, what I saw today, namely the fact that you shared your time with the Conservatives, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, is called a coalition. That's the first time I've seen that since 2015. It's fine to share pieces of information with each other. We've all done that, including among ourselves, but sharing time with the Conservatives to propose an amendment or a change to the motion is a first.
To get back to the matter at hand, we didn't even know what to do about these witnesses, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval. We didn't want to have them testify before the other witnesses so as not to influence them or make them more unhappy. In that case, why should we bring them in if they can't be here at the same time as the other witnesses?
There are human reasons and grief-related reasons that belong to the family. In my opinion, giving grieving families a voice wouldn't help the committee make decisions about what recommendations to include in the report that it will have to produce.
My opinion won't change. I ask that you consider removing family members or witnesses connected to fatal accidents from the list of witnesses.