Some comments were made here with respect to where we go from here. I do think that we're close. There is some contention on our side that the goalposts have moved a bit, and they seem to be somewhat malleable and flexible in terms of fluidity.
We're closing in on the tail end of a very important study, one that I'm grateful the Bloc member put forward.
As a member of Parliament from Cape Breton, I realized the essential nature of truck drivers during COVID, as we all did, but I didn't realize the extent of it. I did talk to some local truck drivers who brought it up to a degree, but I didn't realize the extent of the challenges and the divisions in a lot of things. First, I didn't realize that, in some provinces, training can be up to 48 hours and then people are put into trucks. That's astonishing to me. It's more than a red flag. That, to me, is something that in a meeting or two or three, whatever we decide to do, will no doubt be further cemented or further elaborated on. I know that there are a lot of nuances there.
Today we heard from a witness who talked about the fact that there's remedial training. If something goes wrong that you're called on the mat for, you have to receive some training to update your skills, but there isn't really anything mandatory in terms of continuing education for truck drivers. That's astonishing to me.
Then we talked about the fatigue aspect and how that is consistently a theme that's been brought up. I'm thankful for the opposition here. It's not often that you hear that, because we often have our own game sheets coming in here. The Conservatives want to own the Liberals, and the Liberals want to own the Conservatives, and the Bloc wants to do what it does. I'm really thankful for the fact that we need to look at the victim side of this and how this impacts victims. I understand that we need to be very careful, mindful and thoughtful in how we do that. I think that's really important.
A lot of things have been learned here, so I'm grateful that the study has happened, and I'm grateful that we've spent the time on it that we have. I've learned a lot. I've thought a lot about loved ones on the highway who I hold dear, whether we're on the Trans-Canada in Cape Breton or travelling to see our niece and nephew in Toronto. How safe are we, and how do we reassure that?
We've learned here in this study so far that it is complicated in the sense that there's a great deal of oversight by the provinces, but there may be opportunities for the federal government to look at different venues vis-à-vis Revenue Canada and how we can play a role there.
I can assure you of this: No one has played this game. I appreciate the opposition not playing this game. Liberals have families too. Liberals drive trucks too. This study matters to us. It matters to everyone around this table and everyone in our caucus. We don't get time and a half. We're just very thoughtful and careful of how we want to move forward, in all seriousness.
That goes to my second piece, or maybe third piece or maybe fourth piece, which is how we work as a committee. On committee work, I've been doing this for six years. That's not as long as some people here. Some people have been here for a long time. Again, I often wonder, when we think we're going one way in terms of a process, why we seem to zigzag and go to another process. In past committees, we've had a very functioning subcommittee that was able to blow through that minutiae and really bring out some tangible processes and go-forwards for the larger committee.
Now we find ourselves in this situation where we're very close in terms of solidifying a move on the scheduling, but you can understand that when things change three or four times in an hour, it gives you a little pause for concern in terms of, if we now agree to this, will this change...? It's like a Russian nesting doll. It just keeps on going.
From our standpoint, we're looking at that very carefully, and it's very thoughtful because we want the best study for it. Ideally, we could have one meeting with the victims, get this study to the presses and get this back into the hands of government, and then ask the federal government about recommendations number one through whatever.
Let's seriously talk about this for the betterment of the industry, for the betterment of the citizens of every province and for the drivers themselves. We've seen in a lot of testimony over the last number of sessions that there's a lot of data. Some of it is substantiated, and some of it less so. There's a lot to think about on this side of the table, as there is on the opposition side of the table.
It was six meetings. There were six meetings and then it was nine meetings. Then it was eight meetings, and then there's two and a half and then carry the one.... I mean, you can understand our trepidation in this. I'll sum it up this way. It's that I do think that if we were to take this off-line, adjourn or suspend...but I think suspending the meeting could possibly impact the minister. I don't know if that's the case.
Clerk or Chair, if that were to happen...?