It is my pleasure to be speaking to this motion.
Because we have spent so much time on things that are not relevant to the motion and subamendment at hand, I just want to remind everyone where we are.
Originally, my very fair and fine colleague Mr. Turnbull put forward a programming motion. It includes how we are going to spend our time this month and next month and how we are going to get through government legislation, the budget before us and other issues that are important and before this committee. That was put before us. The Conservatives seemed to be very upset, saying this was thrust upon them, so they were utterly surprised and bewildered. How could we have proposed such a programming motion without notifying them?
We reminded our colleagues—who at that moment had short-term memories—that in a subcommittee meeting, we discussed all of the ideas and all the things we wanted to discuss for May and June. We discussed how we could get through the budget, how we could get to important issues like money laundering, how we could get to green financing and how we could get to the housing study that is important to all members of our committee. Alas, the Conservatives decided they wanted to play a few games, so we unfortunately have a programming motion and some amendments that were put forward. One of the amendments, which we are debating today, asks that as part of our programming motion, we have Mr. Carney come and present.
What I would like to do is reiterate some points I made previously.
The Conservatives would like to have Mr. Carney present on budget 2024, and as everybody knows, everybody has witness lists. The NDP has witness lists, the Bloc has witness lists, the Liberals have witness lists and the Conservatives have witness lists. Everybody can put forward their names. If the Conservatives would like to have Mr. Carney present, or if they would like to have anybody present—they could ask any Canadian they'd like to present on any of the studies before the finance committee—they can. However, I would like to remind my colleagues, particularly my Conservative colleagues, that it is not the job of finance committee to interview possible future politicians.
Irrespective of whether Mr. Carney has opined on things like money laundering, affordability or housing, I would say that most business leaders and leaders from every different sector are very concerned about money laundering. Any of them, equally, should have the chance to present before the finance committee. I don't think it's only Mr. Carney. I would say most business leaders in our country have opined on money laundering.
I would plead with the Conservatives to stop using the finance committee for their fishing expeditions, and to use the important role that has been thrust upon us by Canadians to continue to look at critical legislation coming before our committee. We have important work to do. We are in the final six weeks of this part of our Parliament before we rise for the summer. It's really important for us to be looking at federal budget 2024, among many other things. That is an urgent request, because almost every day in the House, the Conservatives talk about—