As I was saying, Chair, I just listed the reasons that I find this motion to be misplaced and nefarious in this committee.
I also want to point out that this motion does not lead to where members want this study to go. We have had numerous meetings on SDTC. Our objective here, collectively on this committee, is to make sure that this does not happen again and to find a way to recuperate funds that have been misappropriated in any way. If that's the ultimate objective of this committee, how does this motion get to where we want to go?
I argue, Mr. Chair—for the first time, in case Mr. Perkins wants to question me on that too—that this motion does not help us get to where we need to go.
I agree 100%. I think all members on this committee are united in saying that SDTC messed up. The minister acted. Now we're looking at what happens next through the transition phase and how to recoup funds. I don't see how creating a privilege challenge—not just in this committee, but in transferring it to the House of Commons to jam debates on all matters in the House—gets to the objective of what we're trying to do here as the public accounts committee.
When I first joined this committee, I did it with the knowledge and the understanding that all members of this committee are respectful, that they don't call other people liars and that they have a collective goal of making sure that taxpayer dollars are accounted for and spent reasonably. If not, then we, as a committee, have an obligation to raise the alarm. We work with the Auditor General and her reports and ensure that we are doing the good work that Canadians expect of us and have put trust in us to do in spending taxpayer dollars.
What are we doing? We're sitting here at 9.43 p.m., debating a privilege motion that is frivolous and unnecessary and has gone from zero to 100, without taking into account all of the discretion the chair has in getting to where committee members are trying to go. Our Liberal members on this side of the committee have not held up anything on this committee without reason. We continue to try to collaborate with our colleagues.
I still remember, Mr. Chair—Mr. McCauley is here—when we suspended the meeting for an hour while we all huddled together. We composed a motion and collaborated to put together language on a motion for a study that we all agreed to. We did that. We were able to do it because the cameras were off. There was no clickbait. There was no Rebel News coverage of whatever the opposition was trying to do. We were able to work together.
This motion is the exact opposite of where we started as a committee. We had the ability to collaborate with one another and we had the ability to get to the objectives of what we're actually doing here. For us to use procedure to jam things up and call people liars.... I understand and appreciate that shift and using the F7 key on your computer help you bring up a thesaurus, and you can use the thesaurus all day long. What—