Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Here we go again with another Liberal monologue. We have just got out of 17 hours of Liberal monologue and now we see my colleague with opening remarks that went on for 25 minutes. Other Liberal colleagues joined in, cellphones came out and everyone was ready for the circus to start again and to talk endlessly.
Personally, I listened attentively to my colleague's comments.
Let me quickly tell you why I became involved in politics. I became involved in order to stand up for the public interest. However, when there is no transparency or when we see things like we have seen this morning in committee, my view is that it is not working. The Liberals have announced clearly that they will reject at least 20, if not all 23 recommendations. So those who are not always in agreement with my Liberal colleagues will have to stand up for themselves, and firmly.
We have been talking about effectiveness, because we do all the time. It's all good and it's all effective. Let me reassure you as I quickly go through my notes. We talk about effectiveness, but for whom? When we on our side find that things are not effective, we are told to stop asking questions, that we are not making sense and that we are slowing everything down. But when the Liberals find things effective, everything is effective. It's like saying that the only kind of effectiveness is Liberal effectiveness.
For some time now, the Liberals have been quoting two witnesses, but those witnesses are both direct employees of the Prime Minister. I do not know how that is neutral or fair to the public when the only two witnesses we hear quoted work directly for the Prime Minister.
The motion we have here asks for clarity and transparency. It's now Thursday evening and the committee has just sat for a two-hour session on lobbying. In that session, witnesses came again to tell us that transparency and accountability are vital for our institutions to regain public trust.
We are told to stop being sensationalist. We are told that Mr. Barrett wrote the motion on the back of a napkin. It seems clear to me that my colleagues think that he does not know how things are done. We are told that we need to be factual. What can be more factual than asking for facts? We are asking to have access to information so that we are able to pass it on to people for them to form their own opinions. We are not asking the government to analyze the information we should be receiving. Nor are we asking them to tell us what information might be relevant. We are asking them to give us the information so that those whose job is to criticize the government are able to do so and to ask questions.
Earlier, Mr. Cooper tried to introduce a motion, but he was interrupted six times. Madam Chair—Mr. Brassard was not in the chair this morning—and the Liberal members interrupted him repeatedly. That's the problem, right there. When questions are asked, they are not good questions unless the Liberals ask them
Let me talk about clips now. We have had 17 hours of monologue. The Liberals never get tired of accusing us of wanting clips, but they had a good number themselves in those 17 hours of monologue. They were on camera all the time. I don't really know what they wanted to point out, but they were on camera for 17 hours. So they can't come and tell us that we want clips. They clearly want to be on TV a lot.
Then, I do not know whether I have the right to show it here, but I have a report from Statistics Canada that tells us that 72% of Canadians no longer have trust in our institutions. So when we introduce motions asking for access to information, it's not redundant. Statistics Canada tells us that Canadians no longer have trust in our institutions. So, please, I am asking for transparency and accountability. That's the first thing to do to win back the trust.
I will end there. They ask us what is so urgent. We told them. The urgency is that the Liberals want to control all the committees. The urgency is that, for the first time in history, we have a majority government without a democratic vote by the people. The Liberals want total control of all the committees so that we will no longer be able to ask questions or hold the government responsible for its actions. That's the urgency, right there.
I know that someone asked earlier when we are going to end all this. It will end when we become able to be transparent with Quebeckers and Canadians, and when people feel that the government is responsible for its decisions. That is our role.
Really, that's where I will stop. This is not about the Liberals versus the Conservatives and the Bloc. It's about us having one of the best Parliaments in the world, where we have the opportunity to hold the government to account every day, regardless of the party in power. It is extremely important.
But what we are seeing here, and what we will soon be seeing again—because the Liberals have given us a perfect demonstration of what is coming—is that, when the Liberals have the majority on committees, we are going to be cut off every two seconds when we go to ask questions. The Liberals are not even in the majority yet, but they did it just now when Mr. Cooper wanted to introduce his motion.
This is why it's so urgent.