Mr. Speaker, one of the great challenges in the modern world is effective communication. While we have sometimes pat answers to very complex questions posed in question period, the inability to follow up and get detailed answers beyond talking points is frustrating many of us who are trying to communicate with our constituents but more importantly to communicate with all Canadians.
The committee allows for us not necessarily to communicate directly, not to frustrate the rank and file and the members of the public service that are doing the work day in and day out, but to talk to the leadership from the parliamentarians of this country specifically about ideas, strategies and emerging issues, as well as to explore new courses of action, which are cropping up around the world and are being presented to us from different locales right around the globe. This allows us to focus efforts, communicate and explore the issue, and also to create more effective policy.
The problem with simply relying on a website or relying on sitting down in private with the minister and talking about this is that new ideas do not see the light of day and as a result of that our approach stays locked in a process that, quite frankly, has failed these countries and has failed this country in terms of its international reputation.