Madam Speaker, I rise today not necessarily surprised. I somewhat anticipated the Conservative Party's being consistent with its ongoing weeks and weeks of the multi-million dollar game the leader of the Conservative Party has chosen to play because of his personal self-interest and the interests of the Conservative Party.
Conservatives are not concerned whatsoever with what is happening to the real lives of people in our communities throughout the nation. I find that disrespectful. Ultimately, no matter how the Conservative Party performs inside the House of Commons, I can assure people following the debate that whether it is the Prime Minister or any other member of the Liberal caucus, we will continue to be focused on Canadians, understanding and appreciating the issues that are so vitally important.
Whether it is on issues surrounding affordability, on issues surrounding the legislation we are trying to bring through to protect children from online harm, or looking at ways in which we can shift responsibilities from military courts to civilian courts in order to protect the interests of sexually abused individuals, the government's focus will continue to be on advancing the interests of Canadians.
Having said that, it is very disappointing that the Conservatives have chosen to raise this particular report and then, after moving the motion, have moved an amendment that ultimately would have the report take priority over a very serious issue that the leader of the Conservative Party has been going out of his way to avoid.
The leader of the Conservative Party says he wants accountability; however, that accountability applies only to every other political entity and definitely not to the leader of the Conservative Party. Members would know full well that the public safety committee is attempting to deal with the issue of foreign interference, raising two countries in particular: India and Russia. The Conservative Party, under the instruction of the leader of the Conservative Party, is doing what it can to prevent that debate from taking place.
Conservatives do not want the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security to be dealing with the issue of foreign interference. It is a very serious issue; we think of an individual Canadian having been murdered in Canada, extortion taking place in communities in Canada and political interference taking place in Canada, including in the leadership of the Conservative Party. In the leadership that the leader of the Conservative Party won, there are serious allegations of foreign interference.
There are all sorts of very serious issues in which the Conservative Party does not want accountability. This is highlighted in the leader of the Conservative Party. He is the only leader of the House of Commons today who continues to refuse to get the security clearance necessary in order to protect not his party quite frankly, even that would be good, but the interests of Canadians. He is putting his interests ahead of the interests of Canadians when it comes to foreign interference.
The question is why. What is the Conservative Party of Canada, in particular the leader of the Conservative Party, so scared of? What is the background of the leader of the Conservative Party? Is there something there that Canadians need to know? Is the reason he has chosen not to get the security clearance that he knows he is not going to be able to get the clearance? The reason the Conservative Party is trying to give to fool Canadians is absolutely bogus; there is no merit to it whatsoever.
Today, we now have a motion to amend, to make the public safety committee a priority, to stop the debate on the issue. They do not want us to be talking about international foreign interference. What is driving the leader of the Conservative Party to refuse to get that security clearance?
I should say that I will be sharing my time with the member for Oakville North—Burlington.
I can tell members that it is very upsetting to see the way the Conservative Party, over the last number of weeks, has conducted itself. People should not be surprised because Stephen Harper was the individual who was found to be in contempt of Parliament, and the leader of the Conservative Party was his parliamentary secretary. We know that Stephen Harper was his mentor in many ways. Today, we see the leader of the Conservative Party instructing the Conservative Party, the official opposition, to not only filibuster the House but also prevent a very important debate from taking place at the public safety committee.
Recently there was a story that was published on CBC. I would like to quote from it because it is important for Canadians to understand the degree to which the leader of the Conservative Party loves to have control. It says:
After two years of [the leader of the Conservative Party] as their leader, many Conservative MPs say they are much less free now than they were before his arrival.
The man who promised during his leadership run to make Canada “the freest country in the world” maintains tight control over the actions of his caucus members.
That is the type of control we are seeing today. Here is one of the comments in the article from a Conservative: “He's the one who decides everything. His main adviser is himself ... The people around him are only there to realize the leader's vision.”
This should be mandatory reading for all Canadians who want to understand the type of leader the leader of the Conservative Party is. He talks about freedom, but we have the example of how he has punished Conservative MPs in tangible ways for advocating for things, such as housing, in their own communities. MPs in the Conservative Party do not bring issues to the leader. It is the other way around. The leader of the Conservative Party has it backward.
The purpose of an MP is not to communicate messages from their leader. It is the opposite. We are supposed to be taking the pulse of our communities and bringing it to the attention of our leader. This story, which was updated on November 20, is worth the read because it gives us a sense of who the leader of the Conservative Party really is.
He needs to stop the filibuster. He needs to have more accountability for what is taking place. I would challenge the leader of the Conservative Party to have a debate on this issue in detail and not just have the slogans and the bumper stickers, which he is exceptionally well known for. Rather, let us get into the substance.
Let us see the leader of the Conservative Party get the security clearance, and if he is not going to get the security clearance, he should tell Canadians why. What is in his background that he is hiding from Canadians? That is what it is. He needs to come clean with Canadians, stop playing this political game of personal self-interest and start dealing with the interests of Canadians. He needs to allow the House and the committees to do the fine work that we know can be done in serving all Canadians.