Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, witnesses, for being here today. We're going to get back to the important work of this study here shortly.
I'm not sure, Mr. Turnbull, what you actually meant by any of the comments you shared.
Yes, there are lots of investigations going on. There's the RCMP. There's the Auditor General. There's smoke here. There is a massive fire that is taking place with billions of dollars of taxpayers' money being wasted. We hear about study after study on how we as a country are letting down our research and science community because of the lack of funding. We've heard in numerous studies that the remedy would be to address some of the inflationary pressures that our researchers are facing.
After eight long years, there's no plan from this government to reduce emissions. Their signature tax plan to reduce emissions is in tatters. There are carve-outs being placed in Atlantic Canada. Premiers from across this country are talking together in Halifax about how the mismanagement of the environmental plan has hurt this generation and the next generation in Canada.
The fund that SDTC had was to do the important work of investing in green funds to lower emissions. We found out that it was nothing but a slush fund to go to Liberal insiders. When the truth comes out about how much in mismanaged funds is out there, it's going to make Canadians' blood boil, because we do have issues out there that need addressing. This fund was supposed to be used to hopefully reduce emissions. We found out that it's literally the sponsorship scandal 2.0 and that this government has been funnelling money to insiders.
Right now this committee is tasked with finding solutions to problems that are facing the science and research community. We just concluded another study about underfunding and how, because of inflation, which is at a 30-year high right now, people can't afford to live and work and do their research because of this government's actions. Then we find out that the billions of dollars that have been put into this fund are being misused. The science community—this is the SDTC—is set up to address exactly what this committee is supposed to be trying to address, which is to find answers for our Canadian researchers and answers about science being done in Canada, and we are being shut down by the Liberals and we can't study that.
This motion has a completion date of December 31. This is a very timely and important study. We can do both studies that are on the docket, and this one, before we rise for the Christmas break. I hope that the members of this committee will take a pause and ask themselves why they are here in Ottawa, and not just at this committee but in their role in the work that they're doing. Members of this committee should be looking for answers in science. This is going to investigate the agency that was supposed to fund that, but instead the Auditor General, the RCMP, other committees and hopefully this committee are going to be finding the answers that Canadians demand.
Thank you, Chair.