Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the department officials for being on the call today to answer some of our important questions.
I just want to start with some concerns that I have regarding a recent call hosted by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, and a number of other Liberal parliamentary secretaries. Yesterday they sent out a notice that MPs were allowed to ask questions on an official call with officials. It was going to be a great opportunity for members of the opposition to ask questions on a new $9-billion announcement for student supports, which was made the day prior. As opposition members, we were quite eager to do this.
Unfortunately, I was on the call for about an hour, and the NDP and Green members were given two to three rounds for each MP to ask questions. In fact, an NDP staffer was given two rounds of questions, yet not a single Conservative MP was called upon to ask any questions.
This is quite alarming to me. I was very prepared to ask questions, particularly considering that two weeks prior, we had another one of these calls, and I was not called upon in that call either. Even more worrisome was that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment was informed the day before that I would be leading the questions for the Conservatives.
I'm just wondering if the officials can comment on the viability of a virtual Parliament if opposition members are not able to do their jobs and ask questions.