I don't even know how that's possible, but thank you very much for saying so.
It's great to be with you today, Mr. Chair.
As you may have heard, there's been some debate in the public realm about the proceedings we've had over the last several weeks. I think we all agree that it's time to get moving on our work and put an end to this Liberal filibuster. As a result, I am prepared to move a motion that would achieve that goal. This motion would effectively set aside for the time being my point of privilege until it can be addressed, and hopefully, the breach of privilege that precipitated it removed.
In a manner consistent with the words that members of the government have spoken, I have a motion that I think should garner unanimous consent here today. I think my assistant Craig has sent this over to you and to your clerk so that it can be distributed to all members. It is translated in both official languages and it is in order, because it, of course, is on the subject at hand.
It reads as follows:
That the committee temporarily set aside the motion relating to the point of privilege put forward by the Member for Carleton on October 8, 2020, and the subsequent subamendments moved by the Member for Calgary Rocky Ridge and the Member for Kingston and the Islands, and that the committee adopt all evidence heard in the First Session of the 43rd Parliament during the committee’s study on "Government Spending, WE and the Canada Student Service Grant"; and that the committee order that by November 20, 2020, the government provide the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel with all documents originally requested in the July 7, 2020 motion moved by the Member for New Westminster-Burnaby, without any redaction, omission or exclusion except as would be justified in sections and subsections 69(1) through 69(3)(b)(ii) of the Access to Information Act, and that the Clerk of the Privy Council and the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner appear no later than November 25, 2020 to discuss "cabinet confidence" exclusions to public disclosures, and that the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel testify before the committee regarding documents received from the government pursuant to this motion.
I believe my assistant Craig has shared that with all members of the committee. I think this should pass without any controversy, given that it's consistent with what government members have been stating publicly for the last week.
We have a tweet from Mr. Rodriguez saying that he wants to end the Liberal filibuster and he is prepared to release everything except for cabinet confidences. Hopefully, we can dispense with that and then quickly get on to discussing committee business.
I'll conclude by saying that this has been five weeks of delays. Government members have now spoken for 28 hours over five weeks, some 171,000 words. This is at a time when our economy is effectively in a depression. We are the finance committee. It is our job to respond to that.
The Conservatives have been trying to get us back onto financial issues so we can help Canadians protect their lives and livelihoods. Given that the Liberals have agreed to change course and release documents that they previously had redacted and guarded jealously, and given that they have said the only objection they have now is to the release of cabinet confidences, then I think we have a consensus to move forward and release all other documents that are not cabinet confidence, while we talk to the Privy Council clerk to find out his rationale in defining what he considers to be a cabinet confidence for the purposes of the July 7 motion.
I think we have a solution. After we pass this, Chair, I'm hoping we can take a few moments to get on to the agenda of the committee.
Thank you very much.