Thank you.
Good morning to everyone.
I've certainly been waiting with bated breath to see why we are being called out of our constituency time two weeks before Parliament begins and what the urgency is behind this study. I'm not sure I'm any further enlightened now than I was, in light of the Medicago study that is actually still ongoing and still open, and also in light of the Standing Order 106(4)s that have been called in other committees. I think there are some tactics going on. Frankly, I'm quite worried about whether or not we will see progress in the studies that we as a committee have already committed to—chiefly, the women's health study and the opioid study that, as I understood, we had an agreement to pursue.
We are all for transparency. In that light, I do have some amendments to propose. I am not in favour of spending six meetings further on this when we have already had meetings on Medicago. It has already been before public accounts. If there is a desire to view contracts, then I think we can support that, but we're not in favour of further derailing the incredibly important studies we have on the docket waiting to go when we actually come back into session the week after next.
In that light, I would like to move an amendment, if you will indulge me. We will circulate this in English and French. The amendment would delete the words after “dated November 13, 2020” and add the following to the motion:
and that, when these documents are received by the clerk, they be available at the clerk's office for viewing by committee members only, for one week to be designated by the committee no later than 30 days following the receipt of the contracts, under the supervision of the clerk and that no personal mobile, electronic or recording devices of any kind be permitted in the room that week; and that no notes be taken out of the room.
To be clear, because I know this is a fairly substantial change, the motion would read as follows:
That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a), the committee order the production of unredacted copies of the vaccine supply contract between the Government of Canada and Medicago Inc. dated November 13, 2020, and that, when these documents are received by the clerk, they be available at the clerk's office....
It continues that it would be for committee members only, and so on.
That is the amendment I'm proposing. It has been sent to the clerk. Thank you.