Information & Ethics Committee on March 29th, 2021

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

There's not a motion on the floor.

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

I'm sorry—

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

No, there's not.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Order, colleagues.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Let the chair speak, please.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

There is a motion that has been brought forward.

I am asking if it's the will of the committee to hear from Mr. Rodriguez, to allow him to provide his testimony, and for members to ask and get answers to their questions. Is there willingness to do that?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Yes, absolutely.

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Chair, only if Mr. Fortin retracts his motion.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Mr. Poilievre.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Excellent. You know, we can debate the other matters later on. There's no reason why we can't look at Mr. Fortin's motion tomorrow or after 5 p.m. today, or some other time, and all other matters related to Mr. Li. All of that can be done later. As I understand, we're not debating any of those things now. We're now moving to Mr. Rodriguez. Strangely, it seems that the Liberals don't want to hear from him after insisting that he be here.

Therefore, what I would suggest is that we simply go to Mr. Rodriguez, let him have his opening statement and we can begin, and if there are any motions that need to be withdrawn quickly so they can be reintroduced later on, so as not to keep our witness waiting any longer, then we should do that.

Let's get down to business. We obviously have a bunch of Liberals here who have something to hide, or else they wouldn't be trying to shut down the debate—

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Point of order, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Mr.—

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Point of order, Chair. Mr. Fergus had the floor.

[Han Dong, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Colleagues, order.

Madam Clerk, can you mute all mikes other than mine?

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mute the mikes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Colleagues, order. Order.

I'm not sure that Mr. Poilievre ever got to asking for unanimous consent—

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

You have it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

—to adjourn debate on the motion that was being debated, but he had—

[Han Dong, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

I don't even know which motion that is, Chair. I'm so lost. There are just so many interjections.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Mr. Dong, order. Order.

Colleagues—

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Mr. Sorbara.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

To all of my colleagues, obviously we are gathered this afternoon to speak to and to hear from the witness we have in front of us, Mr. Rodriguez, our honourable House leader on our side. I would like to hear from Mr. Rodriguez. I think it behooves all of us to raise our hands, to speak when the chair recognizes us, and when there's a point of order to be made by the honourable members, let's make our points of order. Let's get that across, but I think we can all do it in a very professional and mature manner.

Mr. Chair, I turn it back over to you. That was my intervention. I think we need to move forward in a very professional manner.

Thank you, sir.