Mr. Jutras, unfortunately, that's all the time I have. I could talk to you for hours, since I'm really passionate about the issue. We could have talked about conditions that are essential and not essential to amending the Constitution, but I do not have the time right now.
So I am going to move my motion. I already gave notice on Friday, May 26, 2017. It reads as follows:
That the Committee, before presenting its report to the House on the nomination of Madeleine Meilleur, invite the following people to appear in order to gain a better understanding of the appointment process for the position of Commissioner of Official Languages: 1. The President of the FCFA; 2. Michel Doucet; 3. The Boyden representative responsible for the selection process; 4. The Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage; 5. Mathieu Bouchard; 6. Gerry Butts; 7. Rémi Leger; 8. The Deputy Minister of Justice; 9. The Chief Human Resources Officer of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat; 10. The Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet of the Privy Council Office (PCO).
The reason for this motion is that, as you know, the Standing Committee on Official Languages must make a decision on the appointment of Madeleine Meilleur as the future Commissioner of Official Languages, as proposed by the government. So our decision must be made after careful consideration and with utmost transparency, and we must ensure that we are not going to make a very serious mistake in supporting the appointment of Madeleine Meilleur as Commissioner of Official Languages.
Madeleine Meilleur appeared before us at our last meeting, and we asked her a few questions. The answers we received are very concerning to us, because there seem to be contradictions in what she said. For example, she said that she had no longer been a Liberal member for some time. The last response she sent us was in April 2017. It’s recent as a date, it’s like it was yesterday. We may even wonder since when in April 2017, she stopped being a member.