Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't want to spend too much time on this motion either, but I do want to make a couple of points and strenuously oppose it.
I will say I am disappointed that the government members engineered the committee this way, so that they could get a motion of this nature through. We understand that, but I think it is against democratic principles the way they've engineered this. Clearly, this motion is all about some kind of secretive government at work. They don't want Canadians to know what really happened with the listeriosis issue that caused 22 deaths. What this motion today is about is messaging, not substance, and this is the operating agenda of this Conservative government. It's about messaging, not substance. It goes to the heart, I would say, of the Harper propaganda machine to try to leave the impression that the facts are different from what they really are.
I'll make my point. I can see after this motion goes through, Mr. Chair.... And you've seen the ten percenters coming from Conservative members across this country. I understand ten percenters are propaganda pieces. That's not what they were designed for in the beginning. I get about five in my riding a week from seven or eight different Conservative members, clearly propaganda. What they will do in this propaganda machine they're running over there--at taxpayers' expense, I might say--is they will be quoting this line: “The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food is of the view that no public inquiry is necessary.”
That will be in their ten percenters, to try to leave the impression that the committee's subcommittee, which Carolyn and I sit on, didn't call for that, when in fact they did. Actually, the full committee--and I'll read it into the record--after months and hours of hearings, passed a motion, recommendation one, as follows:
The subcommittee recommends that the government call for a fully transparent and independent public inquiry, with all the powers provided under the Inquiries Act, into the actions of the federal government, its agencies, and departments in relation to the events leading up to, during, and subsequent to the listeriosis crisis of the summer 2008.
The reason that motion is there, based on the evidence we heard, Mr. Chair, is that the investigator--who did a very good job in terms of her investigation, was critical of the government on a number of points--didn't have the authority to investigate the Prime Minister's Office or the Minister of Agriculture's office or the political people pulling the strings, like some of these minions sitting behind the Conservative members over there from the PMO who are pulling their strings.
So that's the reason for the public inquiry.
I'd just say, Mr. Chair, that this is all about the messaging, and the reason it was set up this way today.... I understand the parliamentary secretary is next on the list; maybe he could answer the question. Did the Prime Minister order Larry Miller to stay away today so that we'd have to put the Liberal in the chair, so they'd have the majority? Is that the way you manipulated the public again? Because that's what you're doing. You're messaging. This is what it's all about. To message and confuse the Canadian people, they set up this committee. Where's the chair? It didn't happen at other committees. At other committees, the normal chair chaired.