Mr. Speaker, there are several problems I have with the motion on the floor. Some are problems of substance, and some are problems of process. Some relate to the fact that this motion is extraneous to the issues that really matter to Canadians, who are going through a once-in-a-lifetime public health and economic emergency that demands the full attention of the House of Commons.
I will begin with the problems of process.
The principle of ministerial responsibility is a golden thread that runs through Westminster parliamentary democracies around the world. The concept of confidence is something that our entire system is built upon. The House must maintain confidence in the government in order to have the government stand. Indeed, the government is made up of, in part, the executive, including cabinet ministers. Whether the opposition has confidence in the staff of those ministers is not relevant to who remains in government. Though it is essential that the House maintain confidence in itself.
I have certain, serious reservations about calling the individual political staff of cabinet ministers before committees in the present circumstances, in part because it is not truly their responsibility but that of their employer, which in this case is the minister.
However, some of my reservations are informed by experience. I am speaking about some of the matters that relate to the Canada student service grant having had an investigation. I have been on the finance committee. I know similar issues have been pursued before other committees, including the ethics committee.
I was supportive of the idea to undertake a study and call certain ministers before that committee, including the Prime Minister. However, what I saw during that experience was very little interest in truth-seeking and rather a great interest in creating a political circus, particularly when it came to the staff who did appear, including not just political staff, but non-partisan public servants as well.
On one occasion, when the chief of staff of the Prime Minister attended, I saw behaviour that was unbecoming of a parliamentary committee. I saw not only questions about the development of programming, but also drive-by smears on her family members. It was reprehensible to watch that kind of attack, not just on those of us who put our name on the ballot and expect this sort of public scrutiny, or on staff, but on the family members of staff.
Moreover, I will point out that there has been no shortage of consideration of many of the issues that are being pursued. There was literally hundreds of hours before the ethics and finance committees. The Prime Minister himself testified at the finance committee. The chief of staff testified as well before the finance committee. The Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth testified before both the ethics and finance committees.
Both committees also had the benefit of the testimony of the Clerk of the Privy Council, who is the head of Canada's public service. A number of public servants attended, gave testimony and answered questions. There was a significant waiver of cabinet confidences, and to some degree solicitor and client privilege, in these instances. Thousands of pages were disclosed, giving all of the information that one could conceivably want to see regarding the development of that particular program.
I want to turn my attention not just to the problems of process, but to what I believe is the motivation for today's motion, which is that the official opposition seems bereft of ideas that actually matter to Canadians who are struggling to get through the COVID-19 pandemic. It looked at the jobs numbers that came out for the month of February, in which 259,000 Canadians obtained a job they did not have one month before, and there has not been a question about our job numbers in question period since. Now that the vaccine rollout has really hit its stride and we are seeing two million doses per week arriving within our borders, we are no longer seeing questions about vaccine administration.
The Conservative Party seems to be in a very difficult place. They try not to draw attention to the issues that matter around jobs and the economy. They try not to draw attention to the government's public health response when it seems to be going fairly well. They try desperately to avoid attention on some of the issues that are plaguing their internal politics. This includes the fact, which I might point out, given the Supreme Court of Canada's decision today affirming that climate change is real, which should not require any affirmation, 54% of their members recently voted at their partisan convention to deny a motion that included those very words.
The reality I see is, we are dealing with a party that desperately wants to avoid drawing attention to the government's record because we have had a world-class economic response to this pandemic, and its members want to create a political sideshow. They want to bring individual staff members of ministers before a committee to see if they can get that gotcha moment for their social media accounts.
I do not think that is appropriate in our system. Instead, it would be far better if all parties in this House would focus on the issues their constituents are actually calling them about, things like whether the government is actually advancing the kinds of economic supports that will keep food on their tables and a roof over their heads, or whether local businesses are receiving the kinds of supports that will help them keep their doors open. Instead, they want to call individual political staffers before certain committees.
Although some of the staff members did not sign up to have their name on the ballot and be scrutinized before parliamentary committees, some of the individual political staff I have worked with in the development of Canada's economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic are without doubt heroes. I think of the work they put in, staying up until one, two or three in the morning to email with MPs who had concerns or ideas to develop programs. That these programs are actually landing on the kitchen tables of families in my community today is nothing short of heroic. I want to take this opportunity to thank the political staff who have stepped up.