Mr. Speaker, speaking as a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, in terms of the duty that the Government of Canada owes to its veterans, it is much more worthy of our veterans to be given a minister responsible for the file, and that the file is not shuffled off to someone who would not do the Prime Minister's bidding. It is not then just slammed into another ministry because the government is so fraught with panic and the curtains are burning and they cannot deal with the mess that they have created. It is incumbent on the government to do better by veterans. For my brothers and sisters who serve in the Canadian Forces and served abroad and at home, I would ask the government and I call on the government to appoint a veteran to deal with this file, because at this rate, it looks like it is giving it no prominence and no significance whatsoever.
I would also call on the government to respect the independence of the committee and not dictate to its members who can and who cannot appear. Earlier, one of the speakers from the government side recognized the strong work of a Liberal member from the committee for having the former attorney general come. The opposition members made the same motion and it was defeated, before they received new instructions from the PMO on who was allowed to appear at committee.