I want to thank my honourable colleague Mr. Kurek for bringing this motion. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, but he did say that this was a “common-sense motion”. I fail to understand where the common sense is in having a discussion about podcasts, when their own members are muzzled when they appear on podcasts and say things that their leader doesn't like.
Perhaps the member opposite might consider an amendment. I know they've been shopping this motion at a variety of different committees. I think we're up to eight now. Perhaps we might amend this motion to invite the member for Peace River—Westlock to talk about his experiences with podcasts and about what happens when he says things that the leader doesn't like or when they are caught off guard.
Let's talk about statistics. At the end of the day, it was the Harper government that gutted StatsCan. It was the Harper government that abandoned the long-form census. It was the Harper government that deprived experts, businesses, stakeholders and researchers from high-quality data in the process, but we know they don't like science, so I guess that doesn't really make much of a difference.
Look, our government believes in evidence-based decision-making and understands the importance of stats and data and connecting with Canadians in a wide variety of ways. I'm not going to defend the podcast, because that's really, I think, a bit of a straw man on this one. I think the real issue is that if Conservatives are really interested in talking about podcasts, why don't we find out why the member for Peace River—Westlock has not been allowed to appear at a committee to talk about his own legislation after appearing on this podcast?
To save our Conservative friends the embarrassment, we're going to vote against this motion and move on, or we may find ourselves amending this in a way that my dear friend may not like.
