Here is the motion:
That, pursuant to Standing Order 111.(1), the committee invite Mark Wright, the appointee to the board of directors of the Thunder Bay Port Authority, Jennifer Clarke, the appointee to the board of directors of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, Gary Valcour, the appointee to the board of directors of the Oshawa Harbour Commission, Colin Watson, the appointee to the Toronto Port Authority, Jean-Sébastien Harvey, the appointee to the Saguenay Port Authority, Elmer Derrick, the appointee to the board of directors of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, Éric Dupont, the appointee to the board of directors of the Quebec Port Authority and Pierre Rivard, the appointee to the board of directors of the Quebec Port Authority to appear before the committee prior to May 31, 2012.
My reason for making this motion is that we have discovered that the candidates nominated by the government have a lot of ties with the Conservatives. I am not including people who have been nominated for a second time, because it would be too easy for the Conservatives to tell us that the reason is that they gained experience in their previous mandates.
I will start with Jennifer Brunsdale Clarke, who gave $700 to the riding association in Abbotsford in 2010, $364 to the association in Burnaby—Douglas in 2009 and $600 to the association in Vancouver Quadra in 2007 and again in 2008.
Among the large donors are some presidents of Conservative riding associations. There is Gary Valcour, former president of the Conservative riding association in Whitby—Oshawa. There is also the secretary of the Conservative riding association in Jonquière—Alma, who also donated to the Conservatives in past years.
Pierre Rivard is also mentioned a lot. He was the lawyer when Josée Verner, who is a senator now, sought to…
I will say this in English because I have it written down here in English.
Pierre Rivard was the lawyer who filed the request, on behalf of then Minister Josée Verner, seeking to question the subpoena to appear in court regarding a business partner suing her communications company.
There are a lot of conflicts of interest in these appointments. The Conservative government based its recent campaigns on transparency and open government. The task of members of Parliament is to make sure that good decisions are made. If the government has nothing to hide, it will allow the committee to do its work and it will bring those people in so that we can ask them questions. That is why I am making this motion.