Public Safety Committee on Dec. 5th, 2024

[Patrick Brown]

I'll go back to the original comment I made that the nature of parliamentary committees is partisan. You have a Liberal side; you have a Conservative side. You all prep for these meetings. You have, of course, the NDP and the Bloc. I thought a better forum for this was the Hogue commission. It's a non-partisan commission looking at foreign intervention.

My worry about being asked to come here was that I didn't want to answer questions that were partisan in nature, because my role as mayor of Brampton is non-partisan. We have a good relationship with all of our federal MPs in Brampton and all of our MPPs. They come from different parties, and we pride ourselves on having good relationships.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Mayor Brown, I really appreciate your professionalism in coming here. I know you didn't feel like you could bring any additional evidence to this committee, but being here today, even though you were summoned, has given me some reassurance that.... Your recommendations have been very spot on: strengthening our country's defences against foreign interference and cracking down on crime in our communities.

I know you're fighting for that in Brampton. I appreciated your advocacy on the auto theft file, an issue that is very close to my heart, and on things we've been talking about at this committee.

I want to thank you for your advocacy and your recommendations. I appreciate the feedback that I've heard from you at this committee meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqwinder Gaheer]

Thank you.

We'll move on to our final questioner, Mr. Gerretsen, for five minutes.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I want to extend the same gratitude. Mr. Brown, thank you for coming to this committee. I know from my time as mayor of Kingston—I was labelled a Liberal because of my connections to the Liberal Party—that you certainly have to do your best to be as non-partisan as possible. However, I never received in my time as mayor the accolades that you just did from a political party in a non-partisan fashion. In any event, thank you for being here.

I take issue with the comments made by Mr. Lloyd moments ago. The reality is that foreign interference is known to be in existence in Canada. Serious implications took place in your campaign, Mr. Brown. I think you and Canadians deserve to know exactly what happened.

Mr. Lloyd, Ms. Dancho and others suggest this is a big nothingburger despite the fact that five individuals have come forward, essentially whistle-blowers. Now, suddenly, the Conservatives are saying, “There's nothing to see here. No need to pay attention to this. It was just a story by the CBC; don't worry about it.” I think that's extremely disingenuous. This issue deserves attention. Mr. Brown, you deserve to know exactly what happened in your leadership campaign. I also believe that if individuals in your campaign were willing to come forward to share this information, it is extremely credible. We need to get to the bottom of exactly what happened in this case.

With that, Mr. Chair, I'm going to turn the remainder of my time over to Ms. O'Connell.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Thank you.

With everything we've heard here today, I'm going to move the following motion:

That, in relation to its study of Indian interference, the committee invite the following witnesses:

1. The Honourable Michelle Rempel Garner, P.C., M.P., Calgary Nose Hill;

2. Mr. Jaskaran Sandhu;

3. Mr. Harkirat Singh.

I have it in both official languages if needed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqwinder Gaheer]

The motion is moved. Do I see any hands?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Can I speak to it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqwinder Gaheer]

You can speak to it, yes, and then I see Ms. Dancho.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Very quickly, the rationale behind it is that we heard very clearly here today Michelle Rempel Garner was, in fact, contacted by the Indian consulate, which was quite upset. According to testimony here today, the word “angry” was used about Mr. Brown's campaign and speeches with regard to using “Sikh nation” in some of his language, which was asked to be changed. In fact, they had a conference call. They discussed that. He mentioned a discussion about the displeasure of the Indian consulate and its expressing that to Michelle Rempel Garner.

I think it's important, since the allegation has been made that she received that phone call and then relayed that information, that she be given a chance to appear before this committee to explain her side of the phone call. As Mayor Brown rightly pointed out, he can't possibly know what was on the other end of that phone call, so we should go directly to the source who received it.

In addition to that, Mayor Brown mentioned two people, Mr. Sandhu and Mr. Singh, and one was at least his campaign co-chair. After MP Rempel Garner received this phone call, there was a 45-minute debrief on that “angry phone call” with those two individuals. Since Mayor Brown was not part of that 45-minute debrief, I think it's important that we bring these two individuals here as well.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

I have a point of order. I mean no disrespect to Ms. O'Connell, but perhaps Mayor Brown could leave if he wishes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqwinder Gaheer]

I think that's fair.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

I'm fine with that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqwinder Gaheer]

Mayor Brown, thank you for your testimony. You testified for almost two hours. We thank you.

You are formally discharged from the committee.

[Patrick Brown]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqwinder Gaheer]

Go ahead, Ms. O'Connell.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Thank you.

To summarize, Michelle Rempel Garner received a phone call. On that phone call were members of the Indian consulate or the consul general, who were displeased with Mr. Brown's leadership campaign. They were displeased with the language of “Sikh nation” being used. She relayed that message in a conference call, and there was a discussion about changing the language in his campaign. After the phone call received by MP Rempel Garner, there was a 45-minute debrief with Mr. Sandhu and Mr. Singh about the content of that call from the consul general to MP Rempel Garner.

Since Mayor Brown acknowledged that he was not part of that 45-minute debrief, I think it's entirely appropriate to find out from MP Rempel Garner what she recalls of that phone call, and then what Mr. Sandhu and Mr. Singh recall of that 45-minute debrief.

That's the rationale for this motion. I will ask for a recorded vote at the appropriate time.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqwinder Gaheer]

Go ahead, Ms. Dancho.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Chair, I'd ask for a few minutes for us to review the motion. I just received it. I'd ask for a brief suspension.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqwinder Gaheer]

Yes, we can suspend.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqwinder Gaheer]

I call the meeting back to order.

Ms. Dancho, you have the floor.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I move to adjourn the meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqwinder Gaheer]

There is a motion to adjourn the meeting. This is a dilatory motion, so we have to proceed to the vote immediately.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

The meeting is adjourned.