Thank you.
Minister, I do appreciate your taking the time to be here today. I did make note of a few comments that were made during our time here with regard to questions that were asked by members of my party, but also other members at the table.
Namely, it wasn't until August 21 that we saw any sort of comment made by you with regard to the conduct of Mr. Marouf. So, August 21 was when we first saw you come out on this. Even then your statement was quite pat. You said you were “working to rectify this matter”. There was not even a statement of strong condemnation or making it clear as to where you stood as an individual, as a minister, or where your government stood.
Further to that, there was no statement made by Minister Rodriguez, who oversees the heritage department. There was no statement made by the Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau himself. There was no statement made by any other member with the exception of Mr. Anthony Housefather, who brought this to your attention long before. In fact, you just told this committee that this issue was brought to your attention on July 19 or 20. That was when you first became aware of this issue. You did not make a statement until August 21.
Again, that statement had nothing to do with taking accountability or responsibility for this matter, but rather just simply saying that you would basically look into it. Then, of course, things continued to escalate from there.
Now in front of this committee you continue to refuse to take responsibility or to be held accountable. Instead, you're wanting to put the problem onto the vetting system—it's the system's problem. You're saying that the system will somehow be fixed. You haven't exactly walked us through what that's going to look like, nor do we really have time for that today, but I would welcome you to table that for the committee to take a look at. Nevertheless, you are skirting the issue once again and saying that it is the system's fault.
It is not the system's fault. It failed, yes, but today you as the minister are before this committee because it was your responsibility to act when you became aware of what was going on. Your first point of action should have been to condemn the racist and anti-Semitic actions of Mr. Marouf—