Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Welcome to the two former members, who obviously both served this place and the Canadian people for a very long time. We celebrate and congratulate them and thank them for that. I wonder how they would have felt about this had this come forward while they were in opposition. I wonder whether they would have enjoyed having their rights eroded and taken away, as members of Parliament on behalf of the citizens they represent.
Mr. Chair, now I'll get back to some of the concerns that Canadians have about this.
The next email I have here says, “I am absolutely disgusted with this. Who exactly does this committee work for? I thought all parliamentarians worked for the benefit of all Canadians. Anyone who votes in favour of changing the policy on sitting in the House in order to allow a self-serving Prime Minister and his cohorts to avoid scrutiny doesn't deserve any support from Canadians. I'm hoping that there are millions of others who feel the same way. The Liberal Party and its members have lost their way. Perhaps it's time to retire them all.”
It's short and simple. The point is that they feel like they've lost their way. This is a government that has only been in power a year and a half and people are saying that it's lost its way and maybe that its members should all retire. They see the Prime Minister as self-serving and trying to avoid scrutiny and they say that he doesn't deserve any support from Canadians.
This next one looks like it's been sent to almost every MP, or very close to it, and it's from someone in Saskatchewan.
It says, “It's time for the Liberals to start working for Canadians and not for Trudeau. Trudeau is not your boss, but the Canadian people are. Trudeau loves dictators, while Canadians hate dictators. Trudeau is acting like your puppet master and you are letting him. You were not elected by Trudeau. Your responsibility is to Canadians, particularly those lost souls who elected you in their constituencies.”
I guess we know how they feel.
It continues, “Canadians hired you to do a job with specific rules, a job description, working conditions, and hours of work. Canadians have the power to fire you and unless you are deaf, blind, and totally ignorant of the rage building across this country towards the Liberals in power, you should be thinking about your future job security. If you don't like your job anymore, if you find the working conditions unbearable or find attending committee meetings just too hard on you, if you don't like listening to opposing points of view in meetings, if you cannot abide anyone who doesn't agree with your puppeteer's ideas or dangerous plans to dissolve our democracy, and if you cannot handle five days a week of having to be accountable for your actions, then I have one suggestion; resign right now. You were hired to do a job with set rules, hours of work, working conditions, etc. So was...”.
I won't use the words they use here to describe Justin Trudeau, but they aren't a very big fan of Justin Trudeau, clearly.
Furthermore, “If you are not prepared to accept those terms any more, then that's tough luck. You do not have the right to change the rules by which our Canadian democracy works. You are not part of a dictatorship yet. We will fight you to the death on this matter. Trudeau may have you all convinced that he walks on water and that you are close to accomplishing that feat too. Wake up. Start paying attention to what Canadians are saying about the puppeteer who is pulling your strings. You are making a joke of our democracy and of the work that is supposed to be done in the House of Commons and at the committee level. Who do you think you are? We know that Trudeau has no respect for the lowly Canadians he lies about wanting to help. You and the Prime Minister can help us by quitting. Walk out or resign. Let's get this over with now, rather than waiting for 2019. If your puppet master is so confident that he knows what Canadians want, I challenge you to tell him, “Call an election right now”. I have never been as disgusted and outraged at any sitting government as I have been with Trudeau Jr. and his band of merry thieves. They have lost their way and have drunk the toxic Trudeaupian Kool-aid once too often.”
I've never heard “Trudeaupian Kool-aid” before. That's an interesting term.
The person continues, “His incompetence, immaturity, and unsuitability for the job is now fully in the spotlight. He can't cope with being challenged or questioned in the House of Commons, so he wants to be there only one day a week? the country or the world, handing out our money to other countries is his idea of what his job should be. Canadians have a very different opiniFlying around on. Time for Justin to grow up and work full-time for the first time in his life.
“Redeem yourselves. Save your reputations and do something for a change. Stop this nonsense now. End this fiasco now, and he might earn some respect from Canadians who are watching in horror at the games that Trudeau and his advisers are playing with no respect for any of us.”
That person certainly didn't hold back on their feelings. People are angry. The subject of that was, “Concerned with Canada's future”—probably the least strong words they used in the whole email.
The subject matter of the next one is, “In protest to the lack of accountability”. It says, “I am very upset and concerned about how this government is trying to sneakily make these changes, changes that are no small deal. I can't believe that Canada's leaders of the Liberal Party don't understand the value of being leaders.
“The fact that you want to shut down Parliament on Fridays and take away the accountability that every government should be subject to in the form of plain and simple questioning astounds me. It doesn't matter what you are leading. Whether it's a federal government or you are the reeve of a small rural municipality, leaders need to be able to answer questions from those that they are serving. They have a duty to answer to the best of their ability and to subject themselves willingly and openly to scrutiny, because running a country is a big deal. Trying to actually do it well and with honesty is a big deal.”
Then, they have the next part in bold: “Please step up and be an example of good leadership. Show that you even believe you are to be serving the citizens of this country and that you even care what we have to say. I really don't believe that you do.”
I'm sure that person hopes that they will be proven wrong, that there will be good initiative shown, that the Liberals will show that they want to serve the citizens of this country, and that they actually care what people have to say.
The next one says, “To whomever this pertains in the Liberal Party, you cannot amend the rules in the House of Commons just because you feel like it. Are you going to change the name 'Robert's Rules' and call it 'Trudeau's Rules'? Rules in the House of Commons have been there for a reason, so that each everyone can debate and voice the opinion that represents the people of their province. Taking that away is truly insane.
“Liberals, sorry—not sorry—to burst your bubble, but the House of Commons is not about you and what makes it easier for you. It's not supposed to be easy. It's about decision-making for the betterment of the country, even if it takes all night. Even if one person in that room doesn't have a chance to voice their right to speak, how is that anywhere fair?
“I don't understand how you don't see that. What if the Liberals' voice were taken away? You would be”—and I won't use the word they use, but “angry” is what they're getting at—“and frankly”—and again, I won't use their word—“I'm angry, along with many other Canadians. This is not okay. I cannot believe we have to fight for ridiculous stuff like this when there are so many other important things we could be talking about.”
Again, I won't use the language here, but they essentially say that if Justin Trudeau thinks it's too much work to answer questions and wants to take a day to limit that, he shouldn't be in office at all.
Finally, “I'm so disappointed in your representation of this country that my heart hurts.” That's someone who's pretty disappointed.
The next one asks, “How in any way do you think that what you are doing is honouring this great country that we all live in, let alone while our 'wonderful' Prime Minister is putting us in more and more debt because of his outrageous expenses and luxurious vacations? Do you honestly think that granting him more days off will in any way help this country? Frankly, it will more likely put Canada into more debt than we are already in now, not to mention the headache this will cause for years to come, and the financial stress that it will continue to place on this country and on taxpayers like myself. If you think that this will win the Liberal Party more votes at all in the next election, you are mistaken.”
It continues, “I, for one, will not be voting in your party's favour in the next election due to things like this. As men and women who are paid to stand up for the people of this country I feel as though you have outrageously failed us. Sincerely, a very disappointed young voter.”
The subject of this was actually “Weasels in Parliament”, so they're pretty upset, saying they won't vote for the Liberal Party. They're a very disappointed young voter because of what they're seeing here, a young person who's paying attention to what's going on and saying, this is not appropriate.
The next one's addressed to Liberal MPs, although copied to others, obviously: “Dear Liberal MPs, you can't change the rules of how Parliament runs, without consulting Canadians. You do not own your seat. You were entrusted with it by Canadians. Stop trying to push through these changes without due course. How dare you tamper with democracy in our country like this? You are trying to escape accountability, and you need to drop this motion.”
Then they indicate they're looking forward to a reply.
The next person says: “I expect Parliament to be open on Fridays and hard work to be done. I expect Trudeau to answer questions in the House, and that he can't limit the right of my MP to scrutinize legislation. I really expect there to be more respect for my tax dollars. The rest of us Canadians would never dream of wasting money like this government is doing, because we know the value of money. We have to work hard and make tough choices to support our families, and it is extremely disrespectful to take our money in taxes and then sit in your castle and show all of us peasants how powerful you are to oppress us with your wasteful spending. It's just sickening.”
This person, besides thinking that this is a sickening attempt, I think really summarized quite well in their first paragraph the thoughts of many of the people writing these letters, in saying that they expected Parliament to be open on Fridays and expected Justin Trudeau to answer questions in the House of Commons, and that the government shouldn't be limiting the rights of MPs to scrutinize legislation. That sums up, in a very brief way, what the problem is here. I think that for many of these people it's really hard to believe that's what's happening here, that the government is trying to take these rights away from Canadians and the people who represent them.
The next person here is from Toronto, Ontario, and they've written to the Liberal members on the committee—obviously it must have been copied to the rest of us—but it says, “We, the taxpayers, have serious concerns regarding”, and then they have a number of bullet points here. It says: “With the high budget deficit; the $127,000 vacation expenses by the Prime Minister; the gifts to Bombardier, with no apparent benefits to taxpayers; the secretive dealings with Aga Khan; the change to parliamentary rules; the waste of billions of dollars with UN irrelevance; the low GDP numbers and what the Prime Minister is planning to do to resolve it; and many more. Certainly, the Prime Minister has the time to travel the world and he has time to show up for work on Fridays and answer our questions and concerns.
“I think what they were trying to say there is if he has that time he should be able to show up and answer the questions and concerns. Obviously, they had a number of concerns themselves.”
The next person is from Hamilton, Ontario, and says: “Good afternoon, members of the PROC committee. Respectfully, today I'm writing to voice my dismay regarding the proposed changes to the Standing Orders and the process by which Parliament operates. Why did you move this motion? Did these changes originate with you or with the PMO? I've copied my MP on this”—I guess I'll use his name—“and urge Mr. Christopherson to say 'no' to shutting down the House of Commons on Fridays.”
I won't speak for Mr. Christopherson, but based on what I've heard from him, I think you can count on his saying “no”. Obviously, I think the hope is that other members of the committee, particularly the Liberal members, will choose to follow that example.
The person goes on to say: “Hard-working Canadian taxpayers deserve a working government. Please remember that you are elected public servants with a mandate of representing the people in your riding, not the whims of the party in power. The citizens of this country depend on you to show up for work, represent them, and thoroughly debate all issues. Kindly maximize the time that you, as MPs, are in Ottawa. There should be no limit to the amount of time debated on issues. Canadians are diverse in our opinions and all voices should be heard. Governments should always be scrutinized and the Opposition MPs represent the majority of Canadians. Furthermore, the Prime Minister should be expected to show up in the House and attend question period more than once a week. Taxpayers shouldn't be funding vanity trips for the PM when the business of the country is being carried out in the House of Commons.”
I have a few more that I want to read today, Mr. Chair, and then I'll probably turn the floor over to one of my colleagues—whoever is on the list there, so they can be prepared.