It certainly felt like a threat, MP Fragiskatos.
What message does it send to the Canadian public when you say, “If you want to play games, then we'll bring no ministers”? It's, “Fine. We don't have any accountability. We don't have any transparency. You know what? We just won't have anyone show up. We'll give you little scraps.”
I think that was very, quite frankly, arrogant. You work for the Canadian people. You are spending their money. They deserve accountability and transparency.
That's through you, Mr. Chair.
The second point I'd like to make is to my NDP colleague who is visiting today. I'd say thank you for doing that, but he's left the room. I find it a little bit shocking that the NDP are supposed to be for the people, and as somebody who stated earlier in today's meeting that he's been in opposition for 20 years, he should know how important it is to call these people in to committee to get answers.
Let's just put out on the table right now what has come out this morning, as anybody knows who was listening to the news. The number of people accessing a food bank in Ontario has increased by 38% from the previous year, making this the largest single-year increase ever recorded by Ontario's food bank network. More than one in six visitors say they are employed, which is an 82% increase over 2016 to 2017, and a 37% increase over the previous year.
We are asking for the ministers who are in charge of our most vulnerable Canadians to come here, be transparent, and make solutions—to come to the table with solutions for how we're going to help our most vulnerable. These are the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion, and Persons with Disabilities and the Minister of Labour and Seniors. If you're not getting countless emails and phone calls from seniors and people who are struggling, you're not doing your job. There's also the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.
Therefore, this subamendment is 100% skirting accountability and transparency, which is, sadly, what we have come to expect from this NDP-Liberal coalition that we've seen here today.