Evidence of meeting #106 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was guests.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
I'm not assuming the worst; I'm simply wondering. It was an odd question from the Prime Minister's Office, which was supposedly unaware of Mr. Hunka's presence. Then suddenly, it was learned that his son was there and it became essential to identify him. That's rather surprising.
Mr. McKinnon, you were the chief government whip when—
Liberal
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
Then I'm sure you'll agree that was when she might have first learned the facts.
If you would like me to speculate, I would say that it's reasonable to believe, given what she had just learned, that she wanted more clarification on what had happened.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
No, it appears that…Well, I can see that you're not aware of the situation and don't know the answer. However that may be, I can tell you that it's nevertheless rather surprising for the Prime Minister's Office to have responded so quickly, and that the first response was to ask about Mr. Hunka's son's name.
Secondly, given that you were the chief government whip, I wanted to ask you who provided the parliamentary protocol office with the list of government guests. Was it the whip, the government leader in the House of Commons, the member for Winnipeg North? Who was it?
Liberal
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
You will no doubt recall that the advance notice to all parliamentarians was very short. I believe it was on the Tuesday or Wednesday of that week, and the event was held on Friday.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Yes, but who provided the list? Someone has to have sent the House of Commons guest list.
Liberal
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
As a former whip, I feel very frustrated about not being able to answer the numerous questions from my colleagues—
Conservative
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Mr. MacKinnon, I'm asking you who provided the list.
Liberal
Conservative
February 13th, 2024 / 1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
From one standpoint, the government is responsible for inviting dignitaries and diplomats from other countries.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Mr. MacKinnon, I'm asking you a very simple question and I'd like a simple answer.
Conservative
Liberal
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
I know that the member opposite appreciates immensely the work of the translators, and when people are speaking over each other, the translators cannot do the important work that they do, so I ask that the member allow the minister to finish his question and then pose his.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bardish Chagger
I will take that as a reminder to remind everyone to make sure one person is speaking at a time so that we can know what's being said in both official languages.
Go ahead, Minister MacKinnon.
Conservative
Liberal
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
I was the whip at the time. I don't know who provided the list. However, I can tell you that the government has approximately 170 seats—
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Thank you, you've answered my question. Even though you were the whip, you don't know who supplied the guest list. You don't want to be held accountable for that list.
You will no doubt agree with me that the event was organized by the Prime Minister's Office. The member for Winnipeg North requested the permission of the House to hold this event. Are you in agreement on that?