Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank our witnesses for being here with us today to discuss the event that occurred
While looking at the video, I felt that I looked like a person with no common sense. In the video you showed us, I seem to approach the RCMP officer at the same time as the motorcade was arriving. And yet, I have no suicidal instincts. It would have been crazy for me to do that. In fact, even though I hate to do it, I have reasons to challenge the video. I think it has been speeded up.
I will describe the event. After all, I am the one who lived through it. I got off the shuttle bus and one of my colleagues was behind me. When I arrived at the corner of Bank street, the officer was already there. I approached him and I had time to tell him that I wanted to go up the Hill. As I was saying this to him, the cars in the motorcade carrying the President of Germany had not yet arrived. So I had time to say that to him, and he had time to reply this:
“I don't care.”
He was not polite with me. I told him that we had to go and vote. However, If you look at the video, you will see that I seem not to have had time to make these two comments. That is what is bothering me today. I then told him that we had to go up to the Hill, to Parliament, to go and vote, and that I had parliamentary privilege allowing me to do so, and the officer had time to reply as follows:
“I don't care if you have a vote.”
I said to him: “a vote could cause the government to fall, and you don't care?”
He was speaking English. And then he answered this:
“I don't care about the Parliament. I don't care about the vote and I don't care. I'm following strict orders from my superior and get on the sidewalk.”
According to what you see on the video, I would not have had time to have this discussion with him. The way things look there is causing a problem for me.
In addition, with all due respect for the RCMP, I wonder if officers should really treat a citizen, or a member of Parliament, in this way. I told the officer I was a member of Parliament, but that fact did not count for him. He replied:
“I don't care.”
It's not about identity. That aspect is bothering me.
Also, all the time we were speaking, we could not see the motorcade. We had time to talk to each other. We did not have this conversation after the motorcade arrived. And yet, the video gives the impression that all of this happened at the same time, while we were talking. That would mean that I did not have that conversation with the officer.