Evidence of meeting #56 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was classification.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
I would like to clarify one statement. Mr. Bonin asked about--
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
It's related to an answer that he gave.
Mr. Bonin asked a question about confidentiality when we're in camera. I thought I heard him ask if it's appropriate for a member of this committee to tell a non-member or someone who wasn't here what happened in committee.
That's not what you asked? Okay.
Liberal
Raymond Bonin Liberal Nickel Belt, ON
I know you can tell a member of Parliament anything that goes on in an in-camera meeting.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
No. We were clearly instructed last time by the clerk that you can go to the blues to read that—
Liberal
Raymond Bonin Liberal Nickel Belt, ON
No, that's wrong. All members of Parliament have access to the blues.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
You have access to the blues; that's different. I want to clarify, Mr. Bonin, that's different from--
Liberal
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
All right, so I'll just go on with mine, now that your point of order is....
Liberal
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
I think members can very easily demonstrate their good faith on this motion by restricting their request to information that does not violate confidentiality or by expanding on the particular information they're looking for, because right now we have a motion that is unclear and therefore unhelpful.
Thank you.
Liberal
Raymond Bonin Liberal Nickel Belt, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
The reason I'm going to vote for this motion.... First of all, I'll say it's very poorly written. Whoever wrote it could be offended, but it wasn't thought out and it was just slapped on paper. When people do that, they cause problems for a committee.
The fact, though, is that this committee has a problem with what is happening in this area. This committee is not satisfied that appropriate information was shared with it. This committee is telling the House there's a problem here, that we're not satisfied, and we want the House to know about it.
If the House chooses to put on a moratorium, they can damn well do it. But we have a problem. We want the House to know.
Liberal
Raymond Bonin Liberal Nickel Belt, ON
We have a promise from the government side that we would vote today. We're not going to spend three hours getting a list. If this committee chooses to study this, then we can start a study on that very problem. But the motion as it is.... I think we're ready to call the question.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
First of all, I went through the testimony of all the witnesses this morning, including Minister Fortier. A lot of questions were not answered that have nothing to do with confidentiality. Every witness refused to answer some of these questions. They're very simple, very straightforward. They have nothing to do with the contract. They will not affect the deal, they will not affect the RFP, but they were using that as a reason not to answer.
My position is we should support this motion. Tomorrow I'll submit my list of questions that I'd like to see answered. I will do that, but I won't do it without this motion being in place; otherwise I'll never see an answer.
We should call the question. Let's get this thing done, and I'll submit my list to you tomorrow morning.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
First, there was an amendment.
Mr. Poilievre, was it really an amendment, or just a suggestion?
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Okay. The question is on the main motion.
(Motion agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]
Shall we report the motion to the House?
Liberal
Liberal
Raymond Bonin Liberal Nickel Belt, ON
I don't know how you handle new issues to be discussed by the committee.