Thank you, Mr. Chair, and happy new year to you and to the committee staff and everybody here.
It's not a secret why we requested this emergency meeting. It started off with the crisis at Chalk River and the shortage in the supply of isotopes. It escalated when the minister fired off a letter to the regulator threatening to fire her, and the regulator responded with another letter, responding to the accusation of the minister.
I think what we're witnessing is an unprecedented and unusual tension between the minister and the regulator, and I think it's our duty as parliamentarians, as a committee that represents Parliament, to get to the bottom of this and to hear from the minister. He has an obligation and a ministerial duty to be accountable to Parliament through this committee. We also have the opportunity to hear from Ms. Keen, who is also accountable to Parliament. There are a lot of pending questions, unanswered questions. The minister has not been seen for a while. Ms. Keen, I'm sure, also has opinions and questions that she wants answered.
We would like to give this committee an opportunity to hear from both individuals as quickly as possible, so I'm asking committee members to support this motion. Perhaps we can agree on a time that is agreeable to everybody, within this week or as quickly as possible.