Well, I think that's very helpful. I think what we have seen, over the last number of meetings, is a Liberal party that will stop at nothing, having consistently brought in new members and cycled members through this committee simply to do one thing and one thing only, and that is to protect the Prime Minister at any cost.
What we are seeing reported in the news, what we are seeing by virtue of the actions of these committee members over the last number of hours, both today and in previous meetings, is that they will stop at nothing, including embarrassing themselves to ensure that these documents never see the light of day.
I intend to remain here as long as we need to, to ensure that these documents do get submitted to the committee. This is nothing new. These documents were slated to be released to the committee just hours before the Prime Minister did the unprecedented thing, having broken the promise that he made during the previous election. He promised to never prorogue the House of Commons. The Prime Minister did the exceptional thing in moving to prorogue the House of Commons to do one thing and one thing only.
Traditionally, prorogations are done for the purpose of resetting the parliamentary calendar. What we've seen in the last number of weeks is that the Prime Minister has not changed course. What we saw in the Speech from the Throne showed that the Prime Minister has remained on course on every single provision of the federal government. There is no change in their fiscal track. There's no change in their legislative track. The only thing they did by proroguing was to ensure that the investigation into the Prime Minister, and specifically the release of these documents, didn't happen because of the prorogation. These documents would have been submitted to this committee just hours following the Prime Minister's declaration to prorogue the House of Commons.
For the last number of weeks, because of prorogation, this committee has been unable to move forward to get these documents released. Having prorogued Parliament, he delayed that. Now he's offended that we're doing our jobs in resurrecting this study and ensuring that we have transparency and accountability, as is our responsibility and our job.
Quite frankly, it's not just the opposition members' job to hold the Prime Minister accountable. It's also Liberal members' job. The members on this committee are not cabinet ministers, but have a responsibility on behalf of their constituents to hold the Prime Minister and the cabinet responsible for their actions.
The Liberal members of this committee may believe that if they do the heavy lifting of protecting the Prime Minister, if they embarrass themselves by engaging in this ongoing filibuster, that the Prime Minister will give them some role of becoming an esteemed parliamentary secretary or a minister. Well, if they have to sell themselves down that road, they have to look their constituents in the eye and explain to them why they don't believe in transparency and accountability. They have to look their constituents in the eye and say they don't believe in their democratic responsibility to hold the government to account.
Now, I wouldn't want to do that, and I've been in their shoes. I've been in their shoes where, having been in government, somebody from the Prime Minister's Office suggested that I do something at committee, including filibustering and any number of other things that I thought would have been embarrassing, and I turned them down. I would suggest that they consider doing that as well, and doing what's in the best interests of their constituents by voting in support of transparency and accountability.
There is no concern about these documents floating around in the general population. There have been provisions made to ensure that these documents are held in the clerk's office and that they will only be accessed by members of Parliament and the staff of those members on this committee. If my colleagues don't trust their staff, I would encourage them not to allow their staff to have access to these documents. I trust my staff.
I believe, Mr. Chair, that the Liberals won't change their minds. I don't think it matters how long we sit here and debate these things. The national media is now reporting that there are some Liberal members of Parliament who are going to the media and saying privately that they do fear what is included in these documents.
Not only does the Prime Minister fear what's included in these documents, to the extent that he would prorogue Parliament just hours before these documents would have been released, but now we have Liberal members of Parliament who also are going to members of the media and suggesting they are afraid of what's included in these documents and how it may hurt their party.
I would suggest to Liberal members of Parliament that there is a greater hurt that can be undertaken by not releasing these documents and not doing what's in the best interest of Canadians, and that is, we're going to hurt our democratic process.
We have before us an organization, the WE organization, which was granted by the federal government, by the Prime Minister and cabinet, nearly $1 billion. This was on the heels of that same organization giving the Prime Minister and his family over $500,000 over the last number of years. We know that. That's what's on the public record. Those are not disputed facts. What we don't know is what is included in these documents.
I can tell you that if these documents were to exonerate the Prime Minister and his family, the Liberal members of this committee would be encouraged by the Prime Minister's Office to hurry up and ensure that these documents see the light of day. Not only would they be given to this committee and to the clerk, and for us to view them privately, the Prime Minister's Office would demand that the Liberal members of Parliament amend this motion to ensure that the public and the media would also have access to these documents.
We know that their fight and their filibuster demonstrates exactly how fearful they are of what's included in these documents. The bombshell included in these documents is demonstrated by the extent to which the Liberal members of Parliament will go to ensure that these documents never see the light of day.
Now, before he was the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau was fond of saying that sunlight was the best disinfectant. I would encourage the Liberal members, again, to consider that the spreading infection of Liberal corruption is in need of sunlight; it's in need of disinfectant.
The challenge with an infection is that it can be disinfected and can go away when it's a small thing. When it gets covered up, and when it gets hidden away, and when it doesn't get dealt with, it becomes more and more severe, to the extent that the remedy is far more aggressive.
Liberal members on this committee have to consider just how bad things have to get for them and their party before they'll do the honourable thing: Do what Canadians would expect to bring transparency and accountability to their own government. If they refuse, if they allow the infection to continue to grow at the Prime Minister's level, having now been complicit in that cover-up here at committee, I can tell you that the infection will become far more severe and the remedy will be far more severe. I wouldn't wish that on them, but that is a choice they have to make.
Their capitulation to the Prime Minister's Office's demands that they continue talking at this committee at length will demonstrate just how fearful they are, and the Prime Minister is, of these documents seeing the light of day. I think that Canadians will become more and more engaged on exactly what it is they're doing, and they'll fully understand why they're doing it.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.