Public Accounts Committee on Oct. 9th, 2024

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Well, what else do you take from that, Mr. Perkins? What else does that mean?

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

It's evading the truth.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Debating the truth—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

No, it's evading....

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

I know that you guys are masters at evading the truth, but I'm not, and I prefer plain language. I prefer to have a solid understanding of what is happening around me on a regular basis.

I just googled what “prevarication” means, and it's right here in front of me It says synonyms are “fabrication” and “lying”. When you're referring to witnesses—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I'll tell you what a synonym is.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

—with that kind of language, no matter how deep you have to dig into your thesaurus to find the proper word—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I know the language around a thesaurus.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Mr. Perkins—

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Yes, go ahead, Mr. Desjarlais.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I do have plain language for Ms. Khalid on the same motion, if she would entertain a UC on this: “That the committee summon Navdeep Bains to the committee on the matter of SDTC within 14 days of the adoption of this motion, and should Mr. Bains' answers be deemed insufficient, that the chair be instructed to report a breach of privilege to the House.”

[Some hon. members]

It's the same motion.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

It doesn't have “prevaricate”. You just talked about “prevaricate” for five minutes.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you. I appreciate your effort, Mr. Desjarlais.

Ms. Khalid, you have the floor again.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I would appreciate it if the member can explain to me what “satisfaction” means to him and to members, and to how many members of this committee. Is it unanimously, individually or on a majority vote? What are the measures for satisfying this committee?

As we've seen time and time again, nothing has been able to satisfy the opposition members, no matter which witnesses come here or how many documents they provide or how many hours they spend answering questions.

What is satisfaction? What is that measure of satisfaction? If you can explain that for me and help me understand what that measure of satisfaction is, maybe I can debate this.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

I will. I would like to respond to this.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Are you talking procedurally?

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Yes. Please help me understand. What is the measure of satisfaction?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

In response to Mr. Erskine-Smith's question earlier at the top, I said it would come back to both a debate and then a majority vote.

You have the floor, Ms. Khalid.

[An hon. member]

It's if we have UC.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

We don't have UC.

I will clarify that, because I don't want members to think that I'm being a stickler. I'm not. The point here is for us not to—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

That word you didn't like—you didn't like it because it doesn't—

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Mr. Perkins—

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

I'm more than happy to yield the floor to Mr. Perkins, if that's—