Thank you, Madam Chair.
Let me start again, reading my amendment into the record. It is that the amendment be amended (a) by replacing the proposed new paragraph (b) with the following: “(b) invite Katie Telford, chief of staff to the Prime Minister, to appear alone for four hours, within two weeks of the adoption of this motion, provided that she be sworn or affirmed; (c) invite the following individuals to appear before the committee on a two-hour panel: Tausha Michaud, Jeremy Broadhurst, Azam Ishmael, Hamish Marshall, Walied Soliman, Jenni Byrne, Jennifer Howard and Anne McGrath;” and (b) by deleting the paragraph in the amendment concerning paragraph (f) of the main motion.
Madam Chair, I will now make some brief remarks on the motion.
First of all, let me just say that it is important that Katie Telford appear alone and that she appear to answer the questions of this committee, because Katie Telford is in an entirely different position from any of the other witnesses in that she is the Prime Minister's chief of staff. She has been with the Prime Minister through all of the relevant times concerning the 2019 election and the 2021 election. She has security clearance. She is privy to classified information. She's privy to briefings that the Prime Minister would have received, and she is not just any chief of staff. As the Prime Minister is reported to have said, “When you're talking to Katie Telford, you're talking to me.” It's important on that basis that Katie Telford appear on a stand-alone basis for four hours.
With respect to the names I have added—Jennifer Howard and Anne McGrath—Jennifer Howard is the chief of staff to Jagmeet Singh. It seems appropriate, if we're going to have other chiefs of staff, that Jennifer Howard, the NDP chief of staff, also be invited, as well as national campaign directors and managers of the Liberal Party and of the Conservative Party, to come before the committee, and that we also hear from Anne McGrath of the NDP. The motion is simply that we would hear from chiefs of staff and campaign chairs of all three parties, not just Liberals and Conservatives, all of whom may have insights regarding the 2021 election.
With respect to the production order, we are proposing...or the effect of deleting the rest of Mr. Julian's motion would be to maintain the production process that is set out in the main motion, which provides that the parliamentary law clerk would be in a position to undertake redactions or determine the appropriateness of certain redactions and make the final call, having regard for national security considerations.
It must be noted that the parliamentary law clerk is independent. He has a full security clearance. The language contained in our motion was drafted in consultation with the parliamentary law clerk.
I would note that there is a precedent for this. This is precisely the process that was proposed and adopted with respect to the Winnipeg lab issue.
The NDP voted four times for that type of production process involving the parliamentary law clerk, twice at the Canada-China committee and twice in the House of Commons.
With that, I urge the adoption of this subamendment.