Procedure and House Affairs committee  I have no questions. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I thank all the members for being here today to testify. Of course, I'm a member of Parliament from British Columbia, but I represent a very rural riding. It's a huge area. People are dispersed all over it. I don't get to stay in one large community and visit and just go out occasionally.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you. I appreciate that. Mr. Boissonnault, perhaps I will go to you second. It seems to me that you argued that the Laurier Heights and Parkview neighbourhoods should be added back to Edmonton Centre, because they share community halls with the Crestwood neighbourhood inside the riding.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm curious. Adding Laurier Heights and Parkview would reduce the population of Edmonton West by about 6,000, if I got that correctly, and then the proposed Edmonton West riding is already below the population quota. Do you have any other areas to suggest that might be added to Edmonton West to account for this?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I understand that the commission doesn't actually look at future growth of the population, but I thought I would just add that. I have only a few seconds. Mr. Soroka, what is the value of trying to keep all of Yellowhead County in one riding, when doing so requires splitting up other counties?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you so much, Chair. I thank all of you for being here today to talk about this really important issue. Before I ask questions, and I will get to them, I want to read a notice of motion for the committee. I'm hoping to read it in, and we can have a chat about it later on, because I really want to get into the questions.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's excellent, Madam Chair. I'm a little surprised. I thought I had a bit of time, but that's wonderful. I'm happy to start today's conversation. I won't take a lot of time—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's excellent. I have a few comments to make. I just want to say that I am concerned. I'm concerned by some of the comments I'm hearing from the Liberals that make me feel a bit like they're undermining the work of the journalists in this country who have brought some of these leaks to our awareness.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Chair, thank you for that. I think I'm done, but I would love to hear the list of names just so I have a better understanding of who will be speaking, and then I'll decide if I want to put myself back on the list. Thank you.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you so much, Chair. My question is going to be for Minister LeBlanc, but before I ask that question, I want to say, as a woman politician, that I remember at the very beginning of my career being asked if I was tough enough to do the job, and I think that it's absolutely devastating that this frame of reference would be used in this way.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Chair, for Minister LeBlanc, when I look at where we are at right now, we know that Canadians are rightly concerned. Our political system and our electoral system are being discussed around kitchen tables, because people are not sure if they can trust our institutions anymore.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you for that, Minister. I hear very clearly that you cannot answer that. What I'm trying to understand is how this person, in this particular position, was allowed to stay for eight months despite the fact that concerns were raised. I guess the other component of this question, and you referred to it earlier in your conversation, was that the department did refuse to grant a visa to a person who was coming from China in a new diplomatic position at their embassy in the fall of 2022.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I apologize, but I have 10 seconds left. It's clear to me, and what I understand you are saying, is that it's easier to prevent people from coming into the country than it is to get them out of the country when they're here.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Chair. I thank the ministers for being here. I'm grateful that you waited for a few extra minutes to sit at the table with us today. I also want to put it on the record that when we have that kind of intense back-and-forth, it's also very hard for interpreters. They do hard work for us, and I hope that all of us respect the work of those folks when we're having conversations.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I recommend that we do that and have faith that you're going to figure it out and that the whips will do their job. I'm—