Madam Speaker, it is my turn to wrap up another wonderful day here in the House with you.
I will start by doing something I rarely do. I will quote myself. I will quote what I said on June 20. This is the question I asked about the appointment of the official languages commissioner:
Mr. Speaker, under the false pretenses of openness and transparency, the Liberal government is busy being Liberal. It is secretive and partisan. Madeleine Meilleur's anticipated resignation, even before it was confirmed, sparked off long debates and seriously undermined the credibility of all future holders of senior positions. It is ridiculous. Because of the Liberals, the public's understanding is that, in order to be appointed, you must have contributed to the coffers or be a member of the select club of Liberal cronies.
Will the Prime Minister commit today to removing the Liberal Party of Canada membership card from the selection criteria?
That is what prompted me to select this topic for tonight's adjournment debate. I will be talking about it shortly. I think talking about the appointment of the official languages commissioner today is timely, but first, a little background.
The Liberals suffered a major setback when the candidate chosen for the position of Commissioner of Official Languages resigned before she had even been officially appointed, following fierce controversy. What was that controversy? It is worth remembering that Ms. Meilleur's qualifications were never in question. The issue was her political affiliation with the Liberals. The announcement caused an instant outcry, because it was seen as a highly partisan choice by the government opposite.
Ms. Meilleur, a former Ontario Liberal minister, added further fuel to the fire when she admitted that she had been in contact with two members of the Prime Minister's inner circle during the appointment process. At the time, the leader of the opposition said that, by dropping out, Ms. Meilleur had demonstrated better judgment than the Prime Minister. It would seem that history has proven him right.
Just recently, on November 7, Manon Cornellier wrote in Le Devoir that the Trudeau government is utterly useless at making appointments, having failed to appoint a single independent officer of Parliament in two years.
It boggles the mind to think about it. In two years, the Liberals have not been able to appoint a single independent officer of Parliament. Maybe there are not enough card-carrying Liberals who are qualified for these positions, in which case I would urge them to look elsewhere. There are other places they can look besides their own database of card-carrying Liberal Party members. The Liberals need to realize that they botched the appointment process for an extremely important position.
Today we learned that the Liberals have chosen a new Commissioner of Official Languages. The announcement was made not to the leaders of the opposition parties, but to the Canadian Press.
Could my colleague tell me whether the Liberals have chosen a new Commissioner of Official Languages as an officer of Parliament? A yes or no answer will do.