Thank you.
I welcome Ms. Lapointe to our committee. We will have three members from northern Ontario, so I'm sure we're going to work well.
I say this with the greatest respect, but people who show up at our committee have to come prepared. It is simply too much of a luxury to say that we'll put this off until February so people can read a motion. That's not on. We are dealing with a planetary crisis. We are dealing with the biggest crisis that has faced our country in terms of climate and economy. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are dependent on the energy sector, from Newfoundland out to B.C. We have to be ready to give the Prime Minister and the government recommendations in good faith.
Mr. Maloney, I have great respect for your work, as I've already said, but as you know, a motion is on the floor to be debated and voted on. You could vote it down and bring forward another motion. We could vote on this, get it and then deal with the other motions. I certainly think this is something we should all agree on. I'm ready to vote on it.
In terms of bringing the environment minister to our committee, I don't think we need to complicate it by saying that we need to reach out to the environment committee to have some kind of large group meeting, as much as we all love each other. The fact is that the Prime Minister set up two cabinet committees on the climate crisis. One has the natural resources minister and one has the environment minister. I want to know that they both have a plan. Who's making the decisions? We're not sure.
On inviting the environment minister on the emissions cap, it was the environment minister who wrote to the advisory body about the emissions cap, so he needs to come to our committee. The natural resources minister obviously needs to come to our committee because he is dealing with the sector. Those two ministers have to be here.
I'm watching the time. I don't know how long people want to stay tonight. I'm not going anywhere in the snow, so I'm ready to stay all night. I would think we could get this out of the way. Mr. Maloney says we have some other motions. I am more than willing to hear them. I'm more than willing to vote for them, but I am not willing to say that we'll put this off to a subcommittee, because the subcommittee means that we would not be able to come back until February. If we don't come back until February it robs me, as the only member of the New Democratic Party, the opportunity to do the research necessary to bring forward the witnesses we need so that we can do the work, and so that we have a month to prepare for what I think will be some of the defining studies that are going to happen in this Parliament.
I'm ready to vote.