Mr. Speaker, the chair of the finance committee is angry that Conservatives are questioning all the junketeering he wants to do at taxpayer expense. What I was hoping he was going to address in his intervention is why he slammed his gavel and shut down the finance committee to prevent his finance minister from answering as to why he and his chief of staff personally interfered with the former attorney general in order to shelve charges against a powerful Liberal-linked corporation. That chairman shut down the study.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:55 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker Bruce Stanton

We are into another area of debate, I believe, rather than points of order. We know these things do happen, but we do need to get back to the debate that is before the House.

We are going back to the member for Foothills for the continuation of his remarks.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:55 p.m.

Conservative

John Barlow Conservative Foothills, AB

Mr. Speaker, this goes to what I am speaking about regarding Bill S-6 and why it is important for this committee to travel.

We are talking about the value of canola and how it has dropped for Canadian producers by $1 billion on the product they are trying to sell now. Where is our agriculture minister when all this is going on? She is travelling around Canada doing photo ops. She should be in China resolving this issue as quickly as possible.

Our Canadian producers can no longer be paying the price for the Liberals' failures on economic policy and certainly on foreign affairs. Over and over again, it is Canadian agriculture that is paying the price, whether it is the carbon tax, trade issues with India, durum wheat to Italy, and now China no longer taking our canola, wheat, peas and who knows what is next.

In fact, I am so frustrated with what has been going on with the Liberal government that I would like to move: