Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll comment too that if multiple people have their mics on then you do get feedback as well.
Again, we've heard ministers or parliamentary secretaries make comments in the House of Commons, and you're sort of questioning, “Where does that come from?” The opportunity to ask them those questions would be when they come to committee.
There was a minister just last week who made a comment about Canada summer jobs, and I was looking at her thinking, “Where does that come from?” That is not something that came through this committee. It's not a recommendation that came through the study we had on the Canada summer jobs program. It's not something that was brought forth in the Conservative dissenting report when we did that study.
When we do have the ministers here, those are the kinds of things that we can question them on. Where is that coming from? Where are you hearing that? Is that a new policy? That's why it's really important for us to have ministers here for a good length of time to talk about their mandates and also about the main estimates.
There are a number of ministers we have not had here at this committee to even talk about their mandates. With the cabinet shuffle that happened several months ago, we have not had those ministers here to talk about their mandates. There are new ministers in those portfolios. Their mandates, for a number of them, didn't necessarily change from the former appointments. However, it behooves us to have those ministers come here so that they can tell us where their priorities are and how they fit into what those mandates are. We haven't even had an opportunity to do that with the cabinet shuffle that happened a number of months ago.
There might be another cabinet shuffle happening, with some ministers potentially stepping.... They might move things around because there are some people on the Liberal side who have announced that they're no longer running in the next election. There might be another shift as well. If that does happen and if it does involve this committee at all, we should be allowed to have those potentially newly appointed ministers come here to talk about their mandate and where their focus is. That's why it's so important, as part of the work that we do at this committee, to be really questioning the ministers.
I'm meeting with a number of stakeholders within all of the parts that fall within my role specifically as shadow minister for employment, workforce development and disability inclusion. I'm meeting with a lot of different stakeholders, and they're bringing forth a lot of issues to me. I really need the opportunity to be questioning the ministers on that, specifically the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, and also the minister responsible for persons with disabilities. We haven't had those ministers here for quite a while.
It's really important that, when we do have them here, we have them for a good length of time so that all members on the official opposition side do have an opportunity to really question them. Regardless of their shadow portfolios, they're also representing their constituents. Their constituents ask them, “The next time you see the minister, can you ask these questions?” We all get asked that, and if we're not given the opportunity, then it makes it more difficult for our jobs.
Our jobs are to bring the voices of our communities here to Ottawa. One of the ways to do that is through committee work and asking ministers the important questions that we're hearing from our residents and also, if we're a shadow minister, within our portfolio. That's why it's so important to have ministers here for a good length of time. One hour is simply not enough to cover everything that we have to, which includes mandates, main estimates and any other issues that we might want to ask about. Sometimes, too, the ministers will bring their officials, and then they might turn to the official to answer questions, and that takes even more time.
The ministers should be expected generally to come in the fall because that's when the main estimates are. We've also asked the ministers to come to talk about their mandates. When we look at our calendar going from now till Christmas, we just know for many of the ministers that they'll be here for just an hour, but we don't know when. They haven't committed. It's really not a surprise that a minister should be coming to committee in the fall, and it shouldn't be a surprise that they should be expecting to answer questions, and yet we don't know when many of the ministers are coming here.
The committee has the authority to have ministers come for longer. Ministers only coming for an hour to cover off all the things that we need to cover off is really not long enough. That's why we need to have them here for longer, or we need to have them come back, because there's just not enough time to ask the ministers everything that we need to ask them.
Again, going back to my shadow portfolio, I'm meeting continually with stakeholders from across the country, many of whom are in person here in Ottawa when they come and have their Hill days. Many people I'll meet on Zoom in order to get the feedback from them. They'll say, “How are you advancing this? What are you doing?” Of course, we can recommend studies at committee. We can put forth motions at committee to call different people here. We've done that before—for example, when we called the CEO of Air Canada here to talk about the issues relating to persons with disabilities.
We can question ministers when they come here to talk about their mandates and/or the main estimates. That's really what our job is, but it makes it more difficult when many ministers might only come once a year. I can think of a couple of ministers whom we haven't seen at this committee for a year now. There are always emerging issues that happen. Quite often, in a number of motions, we add that ministers also appear, and quite often that isn't agreed to. Therefore, it makes it more difficult because the only time we can question ministers is when they come for the main estimates or when they come for mandates.