Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to say a few words. Some of my colleagues that are against the motion have said that in the letter, the Conflict of Interest Commissioner just wants to wipe her hands clean of everything and just let everything be and to forget it. It does not say that in the letter. All that it says in the letter is that she does not want the Minister to bring her up in the House in the future if we have made a decision on this on her bias.

Again, some of the Members have said that by removing the application, we have removed the allegations, which is not the case. The allegations are still there. It says in the letter that the Minister stands by her word. In her mind, there is still a bias.

Our mandate was to look into the bias. In the Minister's eyes, there is a bias. In the public eye, it is a bias that we have to look into. The mandate is still there, and the only way to clear all this up is to continue with the work that the committee has been doing. If we do not continue and we drop it, like some of the Members want, the person on the street will look on it as a cover-up by the government and we will all be painted with the same brush. I cannot support that. We must have a committee that will look at it. We already had a committee in place, a committee that knew all the information that they had in front of them. The committee produced a report for you.

There is a decision that we have to make. The public is looking at us. Right now it is only Yellowknife, but the Hansard will be available and for those who do not support the motion, what kind of answer will you give your constituents when they ask why did you drop it? We have to get to the bottom of everything. We have to find out why allegations were made. We have to find out why the tape recording happened. I would like to know why it happened. How many of my conversations have been taped? How do we know that we are not being taped right now somewhere else?

-- Laughter

Can we speak in the washroom? You have to be careful now. Do we have to go outside and stand behind a rock and whisper now? We have to be careful now, and because of one mistake someone has made, this is happening.

You worry about the cost. Yes, if the allegations were not made, the cost would not be there. The person that made the allegation is now saying that it is going to be costly and that is the reason she withdrew, but she still says that she thinks she is right in her allegations of bias.

By continuing with the committee, it may look like we are looking at the Conflict Commissioner and her bias, but I do not think that that is the only thing the public wants to know. The public wants to know every detail. I would like to know. I went so far and now I want to turn the last page.

If we do not turn the last page and you close the cover, can you call it a cover up?

-- Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.