Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate you standing up for my rights as a member of Parliament. I don't want to sound too sensitive, but too often people have encouraged me to keep quiet. I know that was not the intention of my honourable colleagues. You can understand, Mr. Chair, that I take this very seriously. I appreciate the fact that you're defending my right to speak on an issue that all members of Parliament have as well.
That said, Mr. chair, Mr. Fortin would like me to put something in writing. I'd be pleased to put my thoughts in writing to share with the committee.
Mr. Chair, this takes the form of an amendment to Mr. Fortin's motion. I'll read it:
I move that Mr. Fortin's motion be amended by deleting point 5 and replacing it with:
The committee noted that Minister Pablo Rodriguez appeared on Monday, March 29, 2021, instead of Rick Theis who followed the government's instructions that staff are not to appear before committees which were outlined during the debate in the House on Thursday, March 25, 2021;
Furthermore, point 6 would be deleted and replaced with:
The committee noted that Minister Mona Fortier also requested to appear on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 and Thursday, April 8, 2021, on behalf of witnesses Amitpal Singh and Ben Chin who followed the government's instructions that staff are not to appear before committees which were outlined during the debate in the House on Thursday, March 25, 2021;
Finally, the words “That the committee report these events to the House of Commons in order to express its dissatisfaction” would be replaced with:
That the nonattendance of witnesses be added to an annex to the main report on the study on questions of conflict of interest and lobbying in relation to pandemic spending.
Mr. Chair, I will be pleased to distribute this amendment to the clerk so that all hon. members can read my views on this matter.