Evidence of meeting #120 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was desjarlais.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
I have an ArriveCAN meeting scheduled then that the subcommittee and this committee agreed to. It will be very difficult to move that. Those witnesses have been very hard to secure. We have been waiting a month for that.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
Chair, I'm looking at the calendar and I see a number of open slots—June 11, 13, 18 and 20.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
Well, I'm asking you for a date and I'm telling you why the dates you're proposing don't work.
First, you're bumping into a government meeting. Then you're bumping into another meeting that has been approved by this committee.
I will reiterate that we are meeting next Thursday. We can do it all at once and get it done, or we can have two meetings.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
Chair, to clarify, if we don't have the date proposed in this motion, if it still passes, or whether it passes or not, we're still going to be meeting on the Thursday.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
It is with a witness that this committee has approved. I don't believe I'm at liberty to announce that person, because it is not all tied together. It is in the course of getting done. Rest assured that it is a witness that this committee has approved, subject to the motion that was passed.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Blake Desjarlais NDP Edmonton Griesbach, AB
Thank you, Chair.
I appreciated Mr. Nater's submission on behalf of the Conservative Party that makes mention of the fact that these are extra costs borne by taxpayer. Considering the fact that you may have already invited them for next week, that you've already spent the taxpayer money without notifying us on this before the vote, and that you've already spent that money on behalf of taxpayers without notifying us, then it may as well be that we have this meeting, but I would suggest that we still have an opportunity to save Canadian taxpayers thousands of dollars by doing this meeting at a regularly scheduled time, Mr. Chair.
I trust you and I know you're really good at this work. I know you're a fantastic chair. You have all my confidence to use most appropriately your ability as our chair on behalf of all of us, to use the resources that you have to make certain that any of the days when we have no scheduled witnesses.... I could read them if you like: They're the 21st, which is the Tuesday after Thursday, and the 28th, which is the next Tuesday. June 4 is empty, June 11 is empty, June i8 is empty—
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Blake Desjarlais NDP Edmonton Griesbach, AB
—and June 20....
I'm sorry. Too many regularly scheduled—
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
I'm going to hear the point of order first, Mr. Desjarlais.
Mr. Stewart, do you have a point of order?
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Jake Stewart Conservative Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB
I'm sure it is. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I think this is extremely relevant. We have an unruly, unco-operative, disruptive and potentially very guilty public safety witness who has declined their invitation to be here today, and the fact that we're having a conversation of kicking it a month down the road is quite substantive to the members.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
That's a topic of debate.
Mr. Desjarlais, you have the floor.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Blake Desjarlais NDP Edmonton Griesbach, AB
Thank you.
I would suggest that four days isn't a month, and I could bring out a calendar for Mr. Stewart to count the days. I can count for him the difference between what is on a Thursday next week to what is on a Tuesday the following week.
Mr. Stewart, do the math. You're someone I know who's a very incredible member of our Parliament, and you're very honourable, and I know that we've worked together on holding the government accountable when it came to the barns study, for example, the fiasco with the expenditure of taxpayer dollars for barns.
I hope you can see the same relevance here, Mr. Stewart. I don't think your constituents—and I'll speak directly to your constituents—expect you, on one hand, to hold the government accountable for expenditures that are inappropriate, and then at the same time ask the same taxpayer to pay a bunch of money when you could have had that same work done four days later.
Come on, guys. You know what game you're playing. Let's vote on this and just get this over with, because I agree with my Bloc colleague. She's raised an incredibly important point, and I think we have to be able to balance resources with what's needed on behalf of Canadians.
I'd even suggest, Chair, that we strike the date altogether and give you the power, Chair, because I trust you, and you're a great chair, to find a date out of any that I've mentioned. That's most appropriate.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
Thank you very much, Chair.
Given that there was obviously an uneven distribution of knowledge in this committee and that clearly Conservative members had access to information before any other members had access to information on this and they came prepared with a motion, came prepared with a meeting already scheduled, I would agree with Mr. Desjardins to amend the motion and strike the date from it and replace it with “on any sitting week before the end of this session”.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative