Thanks Mr. Chair.
I'd like to start by thanking Daniel for bringing this forward. I think it's really important that we have this discussion. I want to thank MP Beech for making sure that all the members who want to speak have a chance to have their voices heard in this discussion.
I'm not going to repeat it for the sake of time, but I want to say that I agree with the vast majority of what Mr. Blaikie said in his opening. I also want to say that I was an elected official for three and a half years federally and four years as a member of the Ontario provincial parliament where I sat on a finance committee. I've debated with members of all parties on a range of issues. I've disagreed with folks on a lot of things. I've seen a range of arguments and a range of tactics used, but I've never seen something like this before.
I think it's in all our interests, no matter which side of the aisle we're on, for it to stop. I think it is.
I remember when I came to this committee. One of the first people to say hello was Mr. Ste-Marie.
He said hello. We worked together, and we said something very positive and optimistic about this joint effort, which I very much appreciated.
I don't always agree with Mr. Ste-Marie, but I think he makes a very constructive contribution to this committee, and I'm glad of that.
Something very similar happened with Mr. Blaikie early on in that first meeting when I came to this committee. What I said about Mr. Ste-Marie I would say about Mr. Blaikie as well, and his contribution to this committee. We don't always agree on everything, contrary to what the Conservatives would like people to believe, but I'm okay with that. I don't harbour resentment that we disagree with each other.
I've had a chance to have conversations with our friends from the Conservatives. Those conversations were very similar as well: “I look forward to working with you. I look forward to getting things done.”
I remember having conversations off-line with Conservative committee members over the course of the time that I've been here, with Mr. Hallan and Mr. Chambers and Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Morantz. I remember Mr. Hallan telling me about—I won't talk about that on the record—his background, his work in his community over the course of years and what led him to run for office. I found that really poignant and memorable. Mr. Lawrence has shared similar comments with me.
I've found Mr. Chambers to be someone who is capable of conciliation and compromise and productive work across the aisle. I think he's capable of that in a way that many members are not. I think there are others around this table who are capable of that as well, but I think Mr. Chambers has done that over the course of the last number of months.
I share that to say, whether you think the minister should appear for 20 minutes or two hours or 10 hours, whether you think the economy is doing well or not doing well, whether delinquencies are too high or they're not too high, whether we're doing enough to support Canadians, no matter what your views are, you're entitled to them because you are here to do a job on behalf of your constituents, to represent them. How you do that and what their views are, I don't harbour resentment for any of that.
What disappoints me the most is that, when we see behaviour, tactics, personal attacks and disruption for the sake of disruption that have nothing to do with the substance of the matter before us.
It's not about whether the economy is performing well. It's not about whether interest rates are hurting people, and frankly it's not consistent with what the members in the Conservative caucus I've spoken to told me when I met them, when I got to know them, when they told me why they came to this place and why they ran for office to represent their constituents.
I don't want to use this intervention to beat up on anybody. That's not why I wanted to speak. I think we all know what those things are, what happened in this committee. We were there. I know we all get pressure from our respective leaders' offices. We all get it. Let's be frank. That's the system of government we're in.
Mr. Hallan, I appeal to you. I ask you to remember that conversation you shared with me on why you ran for office and on some of the work you've done in your community.
I think what upset me the most about what happened here over the past few weeks.... There were lots of reasons I was disappointed. It wasn't even about the time we wasted. It wasn't about taking it to a new level. It wasn't about the rhetoric, although that was very upsetting. What upset me the most was that it wasn't consistent with what I heard in those initial conversations about why we're here. I didn't recognize the members I thought I knew.
I'm not here to beat up on people. What I'm here to say is that anybody who wants to know what happened in this committee can go back to the record and they can listen and they can watch, but, folks, I don't care if you're in opposition or in government or second party or third party or fourth. It doesn't matter. Guys, folks, it hurts all of us when what happened over the past few weeks happens.
I guess I would say I have great concerns about the tactics the Conservatives used. I do. Mr. Hallan is the leader of the Conservative team here, as Mr. Blaikie pointed out, as the vice-chair and as the finance critic. I would ask us all to take this moment and just reflect on why we're here, and I would ask us to just show respect for each other and for this place. When we go after each other personally and we disrespect each other—whether it's the chair or other members, it doesn't matter—then we harm our ability to do our job, we harm our ability to serve our constituents and we harm this place. We harm this institution's ability to serve our constituents.
It may feel good in the short run to score a hit or to score a punch or to get a sound bite or whatever it is or to appeal to a leader's office that's asking someone to do something they probably shouldn't, but in the long run it's hurting all of us and it's hurting our constituents, no matter what you think about how long the minister should be at committee or how well or badly the economy is doing or what the issues of the day are or what the solutions to those problems are.
I would just ask all of us to ask ourselves why we're here and how we make the most of this opportunity.
Thanks.