Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First and foremost, I'd like to thank all the staff. As you know, we mainly work in French. However, in such a short time, the employees were able to translate an amendment to send it to the committee. That shows how dedicated they are, which makes our job easier.
You will understand that, since this amendment was defeated by the reversal of the chair's decision, there will be no vote. Obviously, I won't ask for a vote on a motion that doesn't exist. However, I still want to explain to you why I came to the conclusion that it was necessary to analyze the cost of preparing the requested documents.
I heard Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Albas say that there's no cost to democracy. However, there's a cost to politics. In fact, when this committee wants to go out into the field or hear from witnesses, it has to approve the costs first. Witnesses come from all over Canada. However, it seems that what's good for the goose isn't necessarily good for the gander. We're simply asking for sound management. The motion calls for a number of departments to mobilize. I think that asking them to provide us with the cost associated with this request was the right thing to do to ensure sound and responsible management. That would have enabled the committee to make a decision. Perhaps the committee could have asked for fewer documents, for example, or targeted a specific request to minimize costs.
People are saying that employees are working anyway and are paid anyway. However, they aren't paid to do research, create documents, make PowerPoints, prepare themselves and speak with other departments to find documents. They're paid to serve our citizens. I would have liked to know how many hours of overtime would be needed to do what's requested in the motion within 30 days. It may be impossible.
Not only could we have the figures, but—