... that, as it turns out, neither he nor R&D president Jacques Gauthier will be able to attend tomorrow's meeting of the Foreign Affairs committee.

The last-minute cancellation of his appearance, which he had confirmed as recently as last week, comes on the very same day that an op-ed screed under his name and those of other board members appeared in newspapers across the country, calling on "Parliament to hold public hearings" into the state of affairs at the beleaguered organization, "so that facts can replace fantasies."

One can only conclude that a parliamentary committee isn't quite what he has in mind. On the plus side, this means that they can devote two full hours to debating an opposition-backed motion to call, among other witnesses, Suzanne Trepanier, the widow of former R&D president Remy Beauregard. Surely that will be enough time to run through the list of speakers  -- unless, of course, the Conservative contingent on the committee continues to run long and loquacious in an effort to defer the calling of a vote that they will almost certainly lose.

UPDATE: Just for reference, here's the full text of that motion, which was put forward by Liberal MP and vice-chair Bernard Patry: