Official Languages Committee on Feb. 14th, 2008

[Raymond Gravel, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

We know.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Another suggestion of mine was to bring in the Canada Public Service Agency. A second proposal of mine is to bring in Justin Trudeau, because—and this is where it's relevant—we have four members of the opposition telling us or, I hope, advocating the position of the Liberal Party with respect to official languages, and we have Justin Trudeau, who is also a candidate, so he is a member of the Liberal Party in a very high-profile way, making comments that are directly opposed to official languages and to what official languages stand for.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I have a valid point of order.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

One of the points--

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Pardon me—

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

--that I'm bringing to--

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

One moment, please. There is a point of order.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I have had the privilege of chairing this committee. I'm quite familiar with the Standing Orders as well.

Mr. Lemieux is engaging in a systematic obstruction, but he must do so in accordance with certain rules, including that of non-repetitiveness. He has to be quite good in order to waste everyone's time, but without repeating himself too much, which is not currently the case.

So you should cut him off and tell him that, if he wishes to continue this systematic obstruction and thus to continue wasting everyone's time, he should repeat himself a little less.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I have new information.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

I'm going—

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

For example, new information is that in the--

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Pardon me. I'm going to accept this reminder of the parliamentary rules made by Mr. Rodriguez.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

It's true that it's valid, Mr. Chairman, with all due respect.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Of course, all committee members feel that each person's time is precious. I would therefore ask you to be brief and concise and to present new information to the committee.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Absolutely.

The reason I repeated some of the things I was saying is that--

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

He admits it, too.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

--both you and my colleagues were asking me to explain the relevance, so I was explaining it again. I'd already explained it once, but I was asked the question a second time so I explained it a second time.

If they're going to repeat their questions, they're going to get a repetitive answer.

I'm willing to move on.

When Monsieur Justin Trudeau insulted unilingual anglophones and francophones across Canada, he insulted 22 million unilingual Canadians. As I'm pointing out, this is not the first time he has done this.

If you remember back in May, for example, it says here in La Presse:

The Leader of the Liberal Party yesterday disavowed Justin Trudeau, one week after he was elected as the Liberal candidate for the riding of Papineau. According to Stéphane Dion, Mr. Trudeau erred in advocating the abolition of separate Anglophone and Francophone education systems [...]

Education is part of our--

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Mr. Parliamentary Secretary, I apologize for interrupting you. I am prepared to hear you provide information, but to the extent it is relevant to the motion. However, I find at this time that it is not.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I'll have to repeat what I said before. The motion started with Monsieur Godin inviting the minister. That's what the motion is about. The debate is about whether or not the minister should be invited and who else we can--

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Then vote against the motion, that's all.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Why do you try to railroad debate into this very narrow channel? Debate is supposed to be open, the widest possible debate.

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chairman. Would you please repeat Mr. Lemieux's motion.

I would like him to repeat the motion so you understand.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

The chair can repeat the motion.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

In both official languages perhaps?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Can you read us the motion, please?