Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Fraser suggests that we reflect on this behind closed doors instead of before the public. That has been a consistent way that Liberal MPs have approached these issues. At every step of the way, they have tried to block or obstruct hearing from witnesses until they really feel they have no choice.
It may very well be that we need to hear from additional witnesses, but in the face of the testimony today, it is inconceivable to think that we would not hear from Jessica Prince, Katie Telford, Elder Marques and Mathieu Bouchard.
Very conveniently, we heard from Mr. Butts who spoke to his version of events in the December 18 meeting, and so it seems perfectly appropriate, in fact, necessary, to hear from the two other participants at that meeting, Ms. Prince and Ms. Telford.
It's completely clear that Elder Marques and Mathieu Bouchard repeatedly met with or communicated with Jody Wilson-Raybould's chief of staff and Jody Wilson-Raybould herself, including on November 22, but on other dates with her chief of staff, including October 18 and October 26, to pressure or to reiterate the need for, among other things, an outside opinion. Therefore, how can we not hear from those individuals in order to understand exactly what was discussed, in order to understand the full context?
As for Ms. Wilson-Raybould, it is absolutely clear that we need to hear from her about the period after she was fired as the Attorney General. As Mr. Poilievre said, it is all the more important in light of her testimony that on two occasions the Prime Minister and the Clerk of the Privy Council raised an impossibility with her, and that is that SNC-Lavalin would be moving its headquarters.
Mr. Wernick, after being questioned by Mr. Poilievre for about five minutes, dodged his straightforward question about whether he had ever said that. Then he flat out denied that he ever said it, contradicting himself when he appeared before our committee last, when he stated that they openly discussed about the company moving or closing. That was his characterization of what took place at the meeting with Jody Wilson-Raybould, when she said that she was threatened not once, not twice, but three times by Mr. Wernick. He said two weeks ago that he talked about moving the company, and then after he was cornered, he suddenly issued a blanket denial.
We need to hear from Jody Wilson-Raybould as well.
Why delay? Why should we have to wait 13 days to make a decision? What we need is this process to continue in an expeditious fashion. There is no basis for why this decision should have to wait another almost two weeks when it is so painfully obvious that it is necessary to hear from all of these individuals—these four individuals plus Jody Wilson-Raybould—in order to understand the full truth.