Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Feb. 13th, 2014

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

That's not what you're asking for. That's not what you're asking for.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

But that's what they're asking for.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

You've changed the subject.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

No, I have not.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

You were on the power to compel a minute ago.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

No, I have not, because in order for them to get to the bottom of a scandal, for robocalls—

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

What are you asking for, wiretapping or the power to compel?

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

I'm asking for what is in section 11 of the Competition Act.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Which is not wiretapping....

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Which is exactly...it's the power to compel for evidence, the ability to investigate effectively.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

To wiretap?

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Wiretapping is about police doing their job.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

So are you talking about wiretapping or the power to compel?

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

The Competition Act is about them doing their jobs.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

You're going to have to decide what you're asking for, because a minute ago you were asking for the power to compel testimony and now you're asking for the power to wiretap.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

No, I'm not.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

I want to know exactly what your policy proposal is.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

I'm asking for the ability to investigate before charges are laid, which is what you're not providing in this legislation.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

That's completely false. The commissioner has the power to investigate before charges are laid. That's what he does for a living, to compel.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

To compel evidence to apply to a judge. If the judge does not feel—

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you, Mr. Simms.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

If I could conclude, he can compel evidence by getting a search warrant right now.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you.

We will go to our four-minute rounds.

Mr. Lukiwski, you're first.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Thank you, Minister, for being here.

Before I begin with you, Minister, I just want to make a comment based on what my friend and colleague David said about the process. Following your presentation here, we will go into the second hour of this meeting to deal with process. It will be in public.

I hope that I have an opportunity to talk about process, David. If you want to take the entire hour yourself, that's up to you, but I would certainly like to present the government's position on whether or not we go on cross-country tours. I hope I'll have that opportunity.

Minister, I have to tell you that I was not planning to ask this question until recently. I planned to ask you some specific questions on provisions in the act, but I have to tell you, I'm very concerned about a newspaper report that I saw recently. It was in the Ottawa Citizen. I don't know whether it's accurate or not. I see some of our colleagues from the media are here today, so I'm assuming that—

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Everything in the newspaper is absolutely accurate; there's no need to be worried about that.