Procedure and House Affairs Committee on March 9th, 2017

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Okay.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

—since then, and I'm looking forward to working on this mandate and to delivering for Canadians, and I'm looking forward to working with this committee to make sure that we get the—

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

We've heard that before.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

—the Canada Elections Act updated and repeal the unfair elements of the—

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

So here's the point.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

—so called Fair Elections Act, and I'm looking forward to getting that good work done because we need to work together—

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I'm limited in time, Minister.

At the end of your statement, you said to this committee, “I sincerely want to work together with you.” That pinged for me because those were almost exactly the words you said to me the night before you backtracked on your government's promise. In our conversation you said, “I sincerely want to work with you and go ahead with this.”

At the time, when you were consulting with me and the Conservatives in the official opposition, and when you were phoning folks like Fair Vote and Lead Now, saying that you sincerely wanted to work with them, did you have in your possession the knowledge that you were going to be breaking this commitment on electoral reform?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

I still sincerely want to work with you, because I think there are lots of things we can do together to improve the electoral system in Canada. I think that's precisely what I hope to be able to do with this committee.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

But sincerity also implies integrity and honesty—

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

I have a mandate to deliver. I have a mandate to work on, and I think that the valuable input from this committee is going to be really important to make sure that we get this right.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

You must see the irony, though, of being the Minister of Democratic Institutions and not being transparent.

If in fact you had a second, contrary, conflicting mandate in your possession when you were speaking to me or to others who are involved with this issue, or while you defended a position at the cabinet table, that would be entirely contradictory to the spirit on which your government was elected.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Thank you, Nathan. Sorry, but our time is up.

We would like to thank the minister for coming here and the staff members who accompanied her.

We look forward to our next meeting, moving on with our report on electoral reform.

The meeting is adjourned.