Health Committee on April 15th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Your question about resources did not happen during the meeting, Mr. Mazier. It happened outside. I did you the courtesy of trying to get that information, so don't ask me about what I'm pulling, Mr. Mazier. Please let's not get paranoid around here. Let's have respect for each other. You asked me. I asked.

Go ahead, Clerk.

[Maggie Chi, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Excuse me. The clerk is going to respond to this.

[Maggie Chi, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

On a point of order, this is a trend I've been noticing. I noticed the exchange between Mr. Mazier and the chair, and I've also noticed the interruptions that my colleague Ms. Sidhu has endured throughout her speech. The level of disrespect I've noticed in this particular meeting is really up there.

I just want to remind folks that we are all honourable members here, and we are all part of the committee. At the end of the day, we're all working together here. Let's please respect everybody here, including speaking members and the chair.

I'm just respectfully asking that because the level of behaviour I've noticed here is really.... I've witnessed better behaviour. I implore folks to follow the best decorum.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. Chi.

The clerk informed me that there are resources available until 7:38 p.m. It's up to the committee to make a decision about how they want to do this meeting, but that's the information you requested, Mr. Mazier.

Now that you requested it formally, I'm giving you the answer. Are you good?

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Formally, thank you very much, Chair.

Thank you, Clerk.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You're welcome.

Ms. Sidhu still has the floor, but somebody called for a suspension.

Maxime, did you call for a suspension?

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

The meeting is suspended.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I call the meeting back to order.

Go ahead, Ms. Sidhu.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

No, [Inaudible—Editor].

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Sidhu was speaking when we suspended. I'm sorry, Mr. Mazier.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

It's all right, Chair. I'm done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We now have a list.

Mr. Strauss, go ahead.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

I think we've been here for over an hour now. The only person we have heard from is my colleague, Ms. Sidhu. She was reading a prepared statement, as it appeared to me, for an hour. I think that qualifies as a filibuster.

I'm going to take a bit of time, maybe a couple of minutes, to ask why you are putting us through this. I'm an intensive care physician. I spend a lot of time with people at the end of their lives. Not one of my dying patients has ever said to me that they wish they had spent more time becoming a member of Parliament so they could go to Ottawa to filibuster and waste everyone's time to hide a $250-million boondoggle from the taxpayers of Canada.

I honestly implore each of you in this room, members and staff.... What are we doing here?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I allowed you to speak because I thought you were speaking to the amendment.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

I am.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Go ahead. Speak to the amendment.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

The amendment is to delete our investigation, which is this committee's attempt to procure documents related to a $250-million boondoggle.

There is no question about whether it's a boondoggle. It is a program that has been cancelled and the taxpayer got nothing. It is the same amount of money, $250 million, that was wasted, corruptly and fraudulently, in the sponsorship scandal that brought down the Paul Martin government.

I did my best to listen to Ms. Sidhu's prepared remarks. I couldn't make much sense out of them. I'm not sure if—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Excuse me, Mr. Strauss. I would like to caution you about accusing Ms. Sidhu of something. Some people do not speak off the cuff as well as you do, Mr. Strauss. They sometimes need to read the notes that they made on a debate. You've seen it in the House. People stand up and read from a piece of paper in the House. It's not a prepared document if it was prepared by them to speak to the issue. That is what Ms. Sidhu did.

Let's not jump to conclusions, please. Be careful how we cast aspersions.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you for the kind words initially, Chair.

I don't think I was making an accusation. I think you said that if the document is prepared, it's not a prepared document.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I did not say that.

I said people in the House use paper to speak all the time.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

I know that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I said that some people may not be able to speak off the cuff as well as you can, so they prepare their documents. Whether she was reading from a document is not a real issue.

If you wish to speak to the actual amendment, I will entertain it. If not, I will move on to the next person.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Of course I want to speak to it.

I'm not making an accusation, because, as you say, it's totally legitimate to speak from a document. When you do it for an hour, it is filibustering. It's obstructing this committee's very important work and the very important motion that's before us.

To go back, $250 million is what was blown on the sponsorship scandal. The Gomery inquiry, which the Paul Martin government convened, looked at a million documents to get to the bottom of what happened.

I heard my colleague during her remarks say that this is not a narrow motion or it's too expansive. We're not looking for a million documents. We just want to see the contract. We don't want this to happen again.

Do my colleagues on the other side know how many hospital beds could have been made with $250 million? How many school lunches could have been prepared with $250 million? For all of these things they want to get done that they've lectured us on for the last 11 years, they could have done a lot of them with $250 million, but they blew them. We just want to find out why.

I overheard other strange things in those prepared remarks, like that this could have to do with correspondence with vulnerable communities. There is nothing about vulnerable communities in the part of the motion that she is trying to delete. There's nothing about correspondence in the part of the motion that she's trying to delete.

We listened to her for an hour. The things she said do not comport with the reality of what we are asking for. We are just asking to see the contract. I think more and more Canadians are going to wonder.

There are 11 points in this motion. Why is this the one point they will not—