The Liberals think this is funny. The parliamentary secretary is loving this. He thinks the lack of transparency is funny.
The minister will tell us that the current government is more transparent than any other government in Canadian history because it announced the earliest budget date ever. That's true. It's mid-September, and they announced that they will release a budget on November 4, even though they didn't release a budget in the spring. This is like the guy who shows up at a party five hours late and tells us how thoughtful it was of him to call us 10 minutes beforehand to let us know what time he would be arriving. That's the kind of transparency the Liberals have to offer.
We tried to resolve the impasse, but it didn't work. We're asking for the bare minimum. As parliamentarians, we have our backs to the wall and we need to fulfill our most basic responsibilities. That's why this motion is a good one. It is clear, justified, and necessary to enabling the committee to do the work that is very clearly set out in the Standing Orders.