Thank you very much, Chair.
I want to start by saying I'm very disappointed with the Conservatives for spending over an hour discussing the length of the study and categorizing this motion as partisan. There's a mainstreaming of extremism in Canada that's taking place, and I think it's our duty as politicians to call extremism out.
The far right has been growing over the last decade in this country. During COVID, we saw a rapid rise of not only extremism, but misinformation and disinformation. We know all forms of extremism impact all communities, including the Black community, indigenous people and religious minorities like the Jewish community and the Muslim community.
It's our job as politicians to call these things out. The only way extreme hate and extremism on the far right grows is when we're silent on these issues.
This was a very simple motion. I want to go through the motion just quickly because a member of the Conservatives actually said that this motion was partisan. To me, that is unacceptable because the motion is very clear. I want to thank the member who moved this motion for bringing this to the forefront.
I want to go through the content of this motion so Canadians who are listening have a very clear understanding of what's being discussed and what the Conservatives are calling partisan.
The first part of it asks for four meetings. It's a study of the rise of far-right extremism in Canada. It wants to examine how misinformation and disinformation are used. It wants to put in better support services and preventable measures to combat this extremism. And it wants to look at how extremism, far-right extremism, impacts journalists, women, indigenous people, our first people of this country, Black people, racialized communities, members of the 2SLGBTQ community and religious minorities. Madam Chair, that includes the Jewish community and the Muslim community and all religious minorities in this country. In fact, if the members wanted to be more specific, I would be very open to that as well. That's what we're debating here.
I cannot understand why, for the last hour, the Conservatives would delay, would go in all different directions and actually go to a point where we can't even listen to our witnesses on this important study we're doing. It's completely unacceptable.
This is not a partisan issue. This is about building a better country by exposing what's wrong. I would say without question that the number one role of Canadians, of politicians, when it comes to extremism, is to call it out. Extremism flourishes when people are silent. It works in the darkness, in corners of different parts of this country and in places on the Internet that we couldn't even imagine.
This is how it works. It's a very sophisticated network. I would really stress to all members of this committee, including the Conservatives, not to take this stuff lightly.
I understand there's a sticky point here, because the leader of the Conservatives, who recently visited a camp where there were extremists and was called out for it, decided not to denounce them. This has been on more than one occasion. He's had pictures taken with the far right.
