Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I've listened to the original defence of the motion put forward by Mr. Kennedy. He mentioned large gaps. I thought he was going to link that to his attendance record at this committee, but sadly he did not. The only thing missing at this committee, to answer Mr. Kennedy, is usually him.
I note that the media are here today, which is a rarity at this committee. And why is that so, Mr. Chair? That's because most of the work we do is not politically sexy, though it's important to the interests of the country. We have a very solid record at this committee of doing an awful lot of things. I find the media only show up when Mr. Kennedy shows up. Quite frankly, that's an offence to this committee, every member sitting around here, and the hard work we do.
I will say that the only time they show up is when it's an opportunity to politicize the work of this committee. For example, when Minister Baird comes to the committee, suddenly Mr. Kennedy is here, media in tow. Or today, with an opportunity to flog his specious pet project, his little report, here come the media in tow. Quite frankly, it hurts the good reputation of this committee, and quite frankly, if it was up to me, he wouldn't be on this committee. But that's the choice of his leader. It's a poor one at that.
We have just finished approving a very ambitious agenda. We have lots of important issues to tackle; legislation is coming to this committee, and an important high-speed rail study. I can tell you that people in Windsor are looking forward to the report on that. That could very well affect our future there. We have other important work with a lot of investment in it, and quite frankly, in the interests of redeeming the reputation of this committee in the public eye with the media watching, I suggest it's time to get on with the important work of this committee and reject the motion in front of us right now. I will be voting against it in the interest of upholding the good name of this committee and the work we do here.
Let's get off the politicization of this committee and get back to the work people that expect us to do. Some of it is, again, not politically sexy but nonetheless very important to communities all across the country. So I will be voting against it.
I encourage Mr. Kennedy to show up a little more at this committee and participate in some of the other maybe more mundane and less politically sexy work we do here. I would strongly encourage him to do that.
I'm actually glad, Mr. Chair, that we tackled this issue in the second hour and not the first hour, because I'm sure Mr. Kennedy would have left the room after the first hour. I'm sick and tired of it. It's an insult to the committee and the work we do day to day when he's not here.
Mr. Chair, I'll be voting against the motion.