Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll be brief. My comments are about the second motion that was sent to all members this week. I'll read the motion:
WHEREAS the Honourable Paul S. Rouleau is currently presiding over the public inquiry into the declaration of emergency issued in 2022 (Rouleau Commission), pursuant to the Order in Council of April 25, 2022, which was adopted to meet the provisions of section 63 of the Emergencies Act; WHEREAS, the Commission is scheduled to sit and hear witnesses from October 13, 2022, through November 25, 2022; WHEREAS, these hearings are public; WHEREAS, the evidence and documents produced before the Commission are of great interest to the members of the Joint Committee and may have a significant impact on the work of the Joint Committee, including the summoning of witnesses; IT IS AGREED that an analyst be assigned to the work of the Joint Committee to monitor the work of the Rouleau Commission and report back to the Committee with a summary of each day’s work, including the names of the witnesses heard and a brief summary of the information provided by the witnesses and the documents produced.
I won't read the motion again, because I believe it's pretty complete. This commission has been conducting its work on the same events that are the subject of our inquiry. It strikes me as rather inane, if I may say so, not to take testimony before the commission into consideration. Just as the information we receive in our joint committee work might be of interest to the Rouleau commission, the members of our committee might be interested in the information and testimony heard by the Rouleau commission.
If we are to do our job effectively, I think it it's essential for us to monitor the commission's work. I would further suggest that this monitoring process be carried out by an analyst, because each of us might track their work and remember only those parts of it that suit our respective theories of what went wrong, thus leading us to spend a long time arguing over our differences of opinion.
With someone neutral to do this work, however, such as an analyst with no particular axe to grind, they would simply listen and report objectively on what is being said before the Rouleau commission, thereby saving us a lot of time. We could then decide whether or not to use that testimony and the documents produced. If required, we could invite these witnesses to come and repeat to us what was said at the Rouleau commission or, if we had additional questions, request further details.
Once again, we can't ignore what's happening at the Rouleau commission if we want to do our work properly.