Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I do have a subamendment to the amendment.
The reason I'm bringing this is that Mrs. Kusie mentioned the opportunity to do prioritization of studies. I want to share that a 12-year-old in my community took their life. A 16-year-old overdosed in a public bathroom in my community. I came to this committee today to do business of the committee to prioritize studies. I want to hear from the ministers as much as anybody else does, and I will support Mrs. Kusie's motion to get the ministers here. We need to hear from them. They need to know what we're hearing from our communities, just as much as we need to hear from them.
I'm asking for this subamendment, that we find time to sit together in a collaborative manner as a group of individuals to support people in our ridings—families who are hurting, families who are losing family members, because they don't have the privilege that we have to sit here and try to find clips to put out on social media. If a child passes away in my community this week because we have decided that we are going to sit around this table and try to get the ministers here, when we just had an hour of very, very good information on EI, I will be so upset. I came to Ottawa to support families and single people and to get them the support they need after two years of being stuck in their homes not loving their families, not hugging their mothers and fathers. They haven't had a funeral or a wedding. I was afraid to walk to work today. I'm a member of Parliament and I was afraid to walk to work today. I had to phone a number to ask, “Is it safe for me to enter the street today to walk to Wellington?”
I am over this discussion. I would like to move an amendment that we decide on the prioritization of the studies so that the staff can get to work on the information and the studies that matter to people. I am 100% onside to support every single minister who wants to come to this committee, but I cannot go home to my riding and hear of another child dying.
On Thursday, a woman was stabbed to death in the parking lot beside mine, and I had to speak to my staff and say, “Are you okay? Did you have an incident when you went down in the parking lot last night? The RCMP will be visiting us today for footage from our camera.” Too many women have died over these two years, stuck in abusive situations, in abusive relationships, with no way to move out of their homes. I'm not saying that's what happened with the young mother who was stabbed to death in the strip mall where my constituency office is. Today, I have left my staff and my community to come here to fight for them.
That's the amendment I'm moving. The subamendment to Mrs. Kusie's amendment is to prioritize having a meeting to discuss and prioritize the motions that are already on the floor for study so that staff can get working.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.