I do hear you, Mr. Thériault. I wish we didn't have to devote this kind of time to this kind of motion. I hear your concerns around ensuring that we are taking questions of the ethical conduct of parliamentarians seriously. I think it's our position that we would gladly invite the Ethics Commissioner to the committee to discuss this.
Mr. Chair, if it would move our discussions forward, I would gladly seek unanimous consent to move a motion that I would put on the table right now.
That motion could be, “Given that the Minister of Finance and National Revenue proactively wrote to the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner to declare his relationship with the newly hired executive at Alto high-speed rail; that the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner determined that there was no risk of a conflict and no screen was required; that the Minister of Finance and National Revenue nonetheless opted to recuse himself from the project via a self-imposed conflict of interest screen; that the committee: (a) invite the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner to testify for two hours to discuss the Conflict of Interest Act, its application to cabinet deliberations and parliamentary votes, and whether any conflict of interest took place in this instance; (b) would reserve the right, following the appearance of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, to invite both the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and the CEO from Alto high-speed rail to answer any outstanding questions.”
Mr. Chair, I'm happy to move that motion and seek unanimous consent to do that. This would bring the Ethics Commissioner to the committee on this topic, so we can hear directly from him about it and it would reserve the right to have both the Minister of Finance and the CEO here subsequently.