Public Accounts Committee on Oct. 9th, 2024

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Madame Sinclair-Desgagné will be in your chair, and we can both argue over here.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I've made a ruling that reading the testimony from another committee is out of order.

You have the floor to debate this.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I'm sorry. Pardon...? Is reading evidence, no matter where it comes from, out of order in this committee?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I didn't say that. I said what you're referencing right now.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Why is it out of order?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

It's out of order, because it's redundant and you're reading it.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

It's not redundant. It's the point. He's making the same accusation to the same witness as to the reason why he was here. He appeared before another committee, asked the same question and treated him as if he had memory loss.

Is that the way we are to treat committee members, or witnesses, in front of this committee?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Again, don't you see you're reinforcing his point?

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

No, absolutely not.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'm sure Mr. Perkins is capable of making his own arguments, but if you want to argue on Mr. Perkins' behalf, I would ask that Madame Sinclair-Desgagné occupy the chair, and you and I can have this debate here.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Again, you have the floor.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

No, but you keep interrupting me.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Go ahead.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you.

On that note—

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

No. You're not going to read in the record to filibuster lines and lines. You can refer to notes and you can talk at this committee until you're blue in the face and it's four in the morning, but you're not going to read from another committee that has nothing to do with this question.

If you insist, I'll move on to the next person on the list, and you can come back later.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I won't read into the record. I'll just paraphrase, Mr. Chair.

Am I allowed to paraphrase in this committee?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Of course.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Therefore, Mr. Perkins has referred to the previous witness. The reason for the motion in question and why we're here right now debating this particular question of privilege is the fact that Mr. Bains suffers from amnesia. I'm hoping that perhaps Mr. Perkins is a doctor. Perhaps he's had medical advice. Perhaps he's providing medical advice to witnesses now.

However, we can see from the laughter on the other side that there is no seriousness on this particular issue. All they want to do is interrupt the business of this committee and the House. They'll put it on Russian Rebel News. I'm glad to fundraise for you, Mr. Perkins, but some of us are here to be serious.

I'm going to take a step back, because I find my colleagues opposite—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Order.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Go ahead, guys. Do you want to talk? Just go ahead. I'll just wait for five seconds.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Mr. Drouin, the floor is yours. I don't think you're yielding.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I'm just waiting for them to stop interrupting.

Are they done?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I believe so.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I fully understand that my words anger the official opposition, since it doesn't like to hear the truth. However, I sincerely believe that the journey we're embarking now on is an embarrassment to our committee, which has always operated in a non-partisan manner.

The credibility of a witness is now being called into question. I know people will say that what happened in another committee doesn't count, but it's important to understand that it's the same two people who asked the questions and received the answers. That's why it's important to know what happened in this committee.

I find it disturbing that there is no interest whatsoever in what happened at Sustainable Development Technology Canada or SDTC. What I find most disappointing is that the Bloc Québécois and the NDP are joining the coalition led byPierre Poilievre.

We tabled a motion to validate the report of the Auditor General of Canada. However, we can't debate it, since a question of privilege was tabled immediately. What a nice surprise! I find that disappointing. I'm disappointed in my colleagues.

I'm now going to give someone else the floor, Mr. Chair.

I've read the transcript of the testimony given before the other committee, and I'd like to say that I was hoping that Mr. Bains would get a different reception. He has appeared twice, but the opposition members asked him the exact same questions.

I'd hoped that we could have a debate and a conversation amongst adults, but that's certainly not the case. I'm disappointed.

Thank you very much.