It's now 4:10, and we could have started this meeting at about 3:33. That's unfortunate.
We're currently doing a study on manufacturing, which is great. Some of the members across may want to be mushroom farmers, which is fine, but it's important that we shine a light on these motions that bring transparency to government, which we're having some troubles with right now.
My motion, which was prepared on September 21, is the following: “That the Committee on Industry, Science and Technology suspends its study of the manufacturing sector and commence a study on the independence of Stats Canada.”
That's the long and the short of it. That's the text of the motion. This current study is an excellent study. It has a lot of value. However, for the space of time that we have, and for the sake of Mr. Smith and what he's done to try to bring transparency to Stats Canada and Shared Services Canada and the integrity of the data they produce, this is one of the highest-priority items that we should be looking at right now to maintain the integrity of Stats Canada, not only in the quality that they produce, but also in the independence that they've known for so many years.
Thank you.