Madam Speaker, today, we are here to talk about the 10th report of the environment committee, because the Conservatives have once again moved a concurrence motion in the House.
It is important for us to explain to Canadians, who may be watching the proceedings of the House of Commons and asking themselves why we are still sitting in this situation two months later. It bears repeating a little of why we are here.
First, the question is around privilege and documents that the Conservatives constantly say the government is not providing. What they fail to recognize is that the government has provided the documents to Parliament. The question is whether unredacted documents that are derived from a parliamentary order, from a majority of the House of Commons, should be passed off to the RCMP.
The good news is that we have information from the RCMP. It has come out and said, “No thanks, Parliament.” It is fine with using the existing ways to gather evidence for any type of criminal prosecution. By the way, the government recognizes that the Auditor General's report on SDTC is a serious matter. A third-party investigation has been launched. The government has provided the documents.
The Conservatives have moved a motion to let this entire question around whether Parliament should allow documents to be sent to the RCMP, unredacted, which could infringe on charter rights of any defendants, be moved to PROC. However, for two straight months now, the Conservatives have continually stood in this place to move amendments to their own motion, when every party in the House agrees that this matter should go to PROC.
The record has to be set and understood, because we are wasting parliamentary time in this place. I do think it is important for my colleagues in the other opposition parties to ask themselves at what point would they support a closure motion on this question, so it can go to PROC. They bear some responsibility in the question about what they want to get for their constituents in this place, and what we can do to work together.
The Bloc Québécois and the NDP should ask themselves, at what point, when the government has provided the documents to Parliament—