Declaration of Emergency committee  Exactly. I don't view failures as a moral failing. I simply view them as a practical conclusion from what we were observing operationally. The existing applied resources in the existing legal frameworks were inadequate, as you say, for the capacity of the other jurisdictions. I'd like to talk to you a little bit about the consultations that you were a party to.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Right, and were there conversations with the city as well?

Declaration of Emergency committee  In the consultation process, we've now had public statements from the head of the RCMP and the City of Ottawa's then police chief saying that they did not ask for the invocation of the act. I don't view that as terribly consequential. I view it as essential that they were consulted with respect to the circumstances that the government was facing and they were facing.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Was there alignment, as you observed it? Are you prepared to comment that there was broad alignment that the actions the government did take were the logical conclusion to the observations that you stated with respect to exceeding the capacity of the jurisdictions?

Declaration of Emergency committee  Thank you, Chair. I just want to intervene briefly. Having been a witness as a deputy minister for 16 years before Senate and House of Commons committees, I appreciate that there are times when questions are asked of a deputy that the deputy is not able to respond to in the fullness of knowledge that the questioner would wish.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Thank you, Chair. I would be against your motion for the reasons that Mr. Green has cited, but I would also make the point that it would not surprise me if the opinion had a range of understandings that might be nuanced and not necessarily narrow and prescribed. It could incorporate different perspectives, but it would be useful to have it in one document without going through the parsing out of one chamber's view versus the other chamber's view.

Declaration of Emergency committee  With the understanding that it is written, I would suggest we move to a vote, Chair.

Declaration of Emergency committee  I agree with what Mr. Virani has said, and I was going to say the same thing. With that understanding, I'd be happy to vote on this.

Declaration of Emergency committee  This seems to be the time for us to all give our personal perspectives. Let me say that I think it's important for the committee to get down to its work. I would also point out that the inquiry must report within a year of the revocation of the Emergencies Act, and it would be ridiculous for this committee not to report before the inquirer.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Let's vote on it.

Declaration of Emergency committee  No.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I propose that we rule out paragraphs (g) and (h) in their entirety, and then we vote on the main motion residing.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Yes.

Declaration of Emergency committee  I'll be very brief. I don't think we should prejudge what is sent to us. We should ask for documents in the fullness of the motion. I don't want to prejudge the issues around cabinet confidence and solicitor-client privilege. I probably would side with a generous interpretation of that, but we'll come to that discussion.

Declaration of Emergency committee  Thank you, Chair. I'll be brief. I would have preferred to hear a witness and then get to committee business, but for the comity of the committee, I'm quite happy to have three hours. I hope that we do more than just debate the outstanding motions, but have a discussion of the work plan going forward, so that we can give our staff some predictability about witnesses we would like to see for the next number of weeks.