Thank you, Chair.
Colleagues, you'll recall that a couple of weeks ago, when I first brought a motion suggesting that we provide a safe and civil venue for witnesses to appear to discuss some of the unknowns—and, so far, unquotables—with regard to the SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal, the Liberal vice-chair, Mr. Erskine-Smith, made it very clear that, as he said, he's voiced and voted for a more public inquiry to get at the truth. He said, “I think everyone on this side [the Liberal side] cares at getting to the truth. It's just a question of how we can best do that.”
We accepted, with some disappointment, Mr. Erskine-Smith's characterization of the motion as “premature”, but he did make the point that we should wait for the justice committee to make a decision on whether to reopen their study or not, and they didn't. He said that he would be pleased “to, if necessary, revisit this conversation.” Mr. Erskine-Smith said that, given that the waiver had been provided to the justice committee, it was appropriate to hear more about this.
I'm hoping today that those on the Liberal side of this table will consider this motion, which I'll read into the record:
That, given the new information on the matter of political interference in a criminal prosecution by the Office of the Prime Minister disclosed in documents tabled by Jody Wilson-Raybould and Gerald Butts, the Committee:
a. Instruct the Chair to write a letter to the Prime Minister requesting that he waive all constraints that may prevent individuals invited to appear before the Committee from speaking freely;
b. Invite Justin Trudeau to appear prior to April 12
c. Invite Jody Wilson-Raybould to appear prior to April 12
d. Invite Jane Philpott to appear prior to April 12
e. Invite Katie Telford to appear prior to April 12
f. Invite Elder Marques to appear prior to April 12
g. Invite Mathieu Bouchard to appear prior to April 12
h. Invite Amy Archer to appear prior to April 12
i. Invite Ben Chin to appear prior to April 12
j. Invite Justin To to appear prior to April 12
k. Invite Jessica Prince to appear prior to April 12
l. Sit extra hours in order to conduct these additional meetings.
Mr. Gourde, could you repeat that in French, please?