Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Masse, for moving forward. Your original study and motion got this important thing to go forward, and I want to reiterate that this is the third time we've been stiffed by Mr. Staffieri. We invited him in January and February. He refused and sent underlings, and then, when I tabled a summons motion 48 hours before that appearance, he decided to come. We did it a second time in February. There was another appearance and, again, he sent underlings and didn't come.
The third time is this one. I think it's unacceptable that Mr. Staffieri thinks it's more important to do whatever it is he's doing than to be accountable to Parliament for the company that he is the CEO of.
However, some committee members and I are not perhaps as gentle as MP Masse, so I would propose the following amendment to Mr. Masse's motion, which is to delete everything after “the committee”. The motion currently reads:
That, consistent with the motion passed by this committee on Monday October 28, 2024, the committee
I would delete everything after that and replace it with:
summons...Rogers Communications Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tony Staffieri and the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Navdeep Bains, to appear before the committee, for a minimum of two hours, within seven days following the adoption of this motion;
That, should the witnesses refuse to appear within seven days, the committee make the following interim report to the House:
“Your committee wishes to admonish Rogers Communications Chief Executive Officer Tony Staffieri for failing to make himself available to the committee, despite being invited by the committee on October 28, 2024, then later summoned on November 28, 2024, and the committee insists that this witness-in-hiding appear before the committee for two hours before the House recess for the Christmas break.”