Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I don't know what to say, but I keep saying that I'm a new member of this committee, and I really do find that the work this committee does is valuable and important. I know, based on what's taking place in my inbox in the riding of Waterloo and so forth, that my constituents would be disappointed to know what's happening at committee today.
What's even more interesting is that, as we were sitting here and I was getting to watch the show, I was writing to my colleagues at SECU to ask what took place and what's going on. I asked them if they could give me some insights because of what Conservative members are here suggesting on a motion. I asked them just to remind me who is on that committee. It turns out that the member for Elgin—St. Thomas—London South does not sit on that committee. The member of Parliament for Kitchener South—Hespeler is not on that committee, which is really disappointing to me because he comes from a very intelligent region. They have come to take time from our committee where we are advancing a conversation that's really important to Canadians. Every member says it.
What my colleague sent to me said that the Privacy Commissioner has appeared as a witness during the study of the bill and provided a brief to that committee. That brief is publicly available for anyone who would like to see it. They noted that we had committee business at the ethics committee, and we do it in public, unlike most committees, so they were able to confirm that we could have discussed this motion last week, but no. Conservative members wanted to wait until we had witnesses lined up to appear at our committee on a study that's important. Two witnesses, who are gainfully employed taxpayers, are now getting to watch this show at ethics committee, because Conservatives cannot understand that their motion was voted down at another committee.
I would just state for the record that it's not up to this committee or any committee to tell another committee what to do, nor is it normal practice for commissioners to be appearing during clause-by-clause consideration. I would hope that we would think that our commissioners have important work to do. When it comes to scrutinizing legislation clause-by-clause, that's our job as elected officials. That's why we go to committee, and that's why legislation travels through its process.
I should just also note on the record that it's of note that, when the Privacy Commissioner was in front of committee, the Conservative members used that time to talk about how much time they didn't have rather than asking thoughtful questions. I would encourage Canadians, because I'm sure that there are many watching, to go and check out the testimony at that committee. Watch what happens at this committee.
That's just the approach. Conservative members have demonstrated time and time again that, when Canadians are hurting, they love it. It's sad, but they do. Whenever things are doing all right in our economy and people.... If you look at the job numbers, they're not great, but they're better than they've been in a long time. Conservatives have a really hard time with that.
At the end of the day, we're not in a campaign. We have been elected. We have work to do. Conservatives need to start understanding that Canadians need us to do that work. During a campaign, they can be their political stripe first, no problem. That's part of what it is but, between campaigns, we should be Canadians first. We should be fighting for our country first. We should hurt when people are hurting, but we should also be able to applaud and celebrate when things are going well.
Mr. Hardy is a member of this committee. Mr. Hardy talks about how processes should be respected.
Yes, Mr. Hardy, I agree. We should respect processes, and SECU committee members voted. We should respect those votes. Canadians voted. More and more, Canadians are understanding why once again they sent a Liberal government, because it's the only party right now.... I'll give a shout-out to other parties in the House, just not the official opposition. It's the official opposition that refuses to get to work. It's the official opposition that does not respect our witnesses who are here.
I know the next panellists have also appeared so, with that, I will speak amongst Liberal members.
I think Bloc members want to hear from witnesses, too. I'm going to assume that, and I'm confident because that's usually how they are.
To respect our witnesses, I will move to adjourn this debate.