Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Again, it's not just happening here. It is happening in other parliamentary committees as well. The Liberals don't seem to be very transparent after all.
It is not even us, the Conservatives, who are opposing this, refusing to work or blocking the debates. It is a completely independent commissioner. This is someone who is urging caution because he has identified a problem with what is happening and would like to be able to testify.
That is essentially what Mr. Cooper's motion is saying. Here is what happened: The Liberals refused to allow this person to testify even though this person is an independent official whose specific job is to protect citizens' personal information. He is Canada's Privacy Commissioner. That is his job. He warned to be careful because the Liberals were moving too fast.
Once again, it's not that we don't want to work with our colleagues, which is what they seem to say all the time. However, we must follow the proper procedures. The processes must be followed. That's important. They must be followed to protect Canadians, our constituents, the people who vote. We must follow the processes. That's why all of this exists here—a Parliament, a structure—specifically to provide mechanisms that prevent things from moving too fast and prevent us from making mistakes.
There is an independent commissioner who has asked to testify, who says that this is an important issue, that it is 100 per cent his job, and that he spends his whole day ensuring that personal information is protected, yet the Liberals are not only refusing to call him to testify, but they are also trying to rush the passage of a bill as quickly as possible.
I understand that not much has been adopted in the past year. That's understandable. The Liberals were able to cobble together a majority behind the scenes. However, just because they have that majority today doesn't mean it's any less important to follow proper procedures. They have the majority; I know that. Every time they come in here, they're grinning from ear to ear. Suddenly, they're the kings of the world. I believe, however, that we must respect not only the processes but also the work of every member of Parliament. Moreover, this work is done for the citizens. It's done to ensure that we don't make mistakes and that, in the end, we achieve the best possible outcome for them.
To be perfectly clear, Bill C‑22, which the Liberals are trying to rush through without even respecting the commissioners, will force telecommunications companies to retain all metadata on every Canadian for one year. This is no small matter. Not only is maintaining this entire database a massive undertaking for the companies, but it will also make it possible to track where we were, what device we were using, who we were communicating with, and our phone numbers. We're facing a situation that is neither simple nor trivial.
I don't understand why this kind of access to information has been treated so lightly. Furthermore, I don't see how it's very ethical for the Liberals to do this just to score political points. Ultimately, the point is that they've managed to pass laws, despite a track record that hasn't been very good over the past year, but rushing through this won't improve their track record.
I think it is extremely important for us to address this issue, examine it and allow the right witnesses to come forward and testify to help us draft sound legislation so that, on the one hand, we can truly help our police officers do their jobs, but on the other hand, we do not open the door so wide that our citizens would feel genuinely threatened when it comes to access to information and the protection of their data. They will lose even more trust in our institutions.
My colleagues are already tarnishing the reputation of our democracy. I'd really like to see that stop as soon as possible.