Again, Mr. Chair, thank you for handing me the opportunity to speak, because I think it's something that has not been fairly shared. Over the past few weeks, we've seen a Liberal filibuster presented mainly by Mr. Lauzon. Today, he gave more reasons for this.
Mr. Chair, quite honestly, in my mind, I don't know whether the first two meetings of his filibuster felt longer than the last 10-minute intervention, but I digress, and I'm going to digress here, Mr. Chair. There are a few things.
First, the tactics the Liberal Party members have been using are obstructionist. It's also been very unfair to Mr. Lauzon that he has shouldered all of this. My suggestion is that they might want to examine having a fair share by having the load spread out more fairly.
Beyond that, Mr. Chair, it's undemocratic for us not to have regular meetings while Parliament is sitting. I believe this is an issue that you must profoundly contemplate, because you have a key role that has been given to you by this committee, not by any one member or any staff member, but by Parliament itself. I think the obligation runs such that we need to have regular meetings.
Now, to be fair, the last few meetings have not been productive, but that is not the business of the chair. That is the business of the committee and how it decides to spend its time. I understand it when there are legitimate concerns about the direction. It's very clear to me, though, and I think anyone from the public who came in or watched it on TV would clearly see that the majority of the committee members support continuing this study into the issues that are happening in the trucking industry and that the majority wants to hear directly from victims.
I am going to take a point of contention against Mr. Lauzon, who has said that this is politicking. Mr. Lauzon can choose any reason he wants not to support Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval's motion. He can pick any reason. The one reason he has presented that I take issue with is that somehow we are forcing victims into a position in which they compromise their pain for political gain.
I would say that it is their pain, sir. It is their pain, and it's up to them to decide whether they wish to share it publicly in a way that might benefit this committee.
Also, I think it's remarkable that we've spent so much time talking about what is on political websites. I will tell you what's on a political website: a donate button. There might be other information Canadians will go to a political website for, and they will see that in addition to a donate button, individual members of Parliament from all parties will sometimes present a press release that—guess what—other members of Parliament will disagree with.
I for one want to see victims who freely choose to share their pain—it's for them to decide how they're going to deal with it—and if they are willing to come forward and give us their views and recommendations to consider as part of a study, exempting them from it would somehow lessen our report.
I will also say this: We heard earlier from the analysts here that if we have closed-door sessions, we're not going to be able to use their testimony. If someone's coming here freely to speak about their issues or their family members' issues, I say that this is what Parliament is for.
I'm just going to recap. It is obstructionist, what the government members have been doing. It's undemocratic that we have not had meetings. Also, I support the right of people to come forward and to share their experiences in the way they so choose.
Mr. Chair, I often say that I want a government who thinks of me, not for me, and I certainly want a committee and a committee chair who thinks of us, not for us.
I am going to finish my time on this floor by simply asking for a friendly amendment to Mr. Barsalou-Duval's motion to include the Association des Professionnels du Dépannage du Québec, the tow trucking association of Quebec, which seems to have fallen by the wayside.
I hope that it will be seen as a friendly amendment and that Mr. Barsalou-Duval will include them, because they are a key witness. In my original thinking.... In October we expressed that we wanted to invite them. I think they probably want to come and talk to us about the woes they're having, with millions of dollars of unpaid tow trucking fees. They should be able to share their experiences with this committee as well.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.