Human Resources Committee on April 29th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

You can, any time.... Then I have Ms. Gray.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Wonderful.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

It is a motion that's on the floor. Whoever wants to speak can speak.

Go ahead, Ms. Ferreri.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

A motion has been put forward here to T-bone a really important discussion with ministers, one that is particularly important for the disability community.

This is what happens. We're here and we're doing this and we're playing this game, and guess who loses? Canadians do, disability folks, whom we've talked about already, who were given, through this budget 2024 of “fairness” for all generations, $6 a day. These same disability advocates are requesting MAID because they can't afford to live, because under this Prime Minister housing costs have doubled, food bank usage is the highest in history and the country is in complete chaos and disarray.

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, about relevance—

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

To the motion—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Ms. Ferreri, I have a point of order. I have to—

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

The point of order is on relevance, Mr. Chair.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

I was getting there, Tony.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Ms. Ferreri, please keep to relevancy.

You have the floor.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

The problem is that now we have this motion that's been put forward that is going to push back the ministers' testimony. We know, and Canadians who pay their taxes know, that accountability comes back to the ministers. This opportunity here at committee is a chance for Canadians at home who are suffering, who are living in the hardest times that they've lived in, who are losing their homes on a daily basis, who can't afford to eat and who can't take care of their children. They want answers from the ministers. The member opposite, the Liberal member, has put forward a motion so that we don't have to hear from these ministers.

I also am going to look at this motion, and I would love to know if the member opposite, who is so concerned about extremists and courting extreme behaviour, is willing to have the Prime Minister come here to talk about how many times he's worn blackface. Is he willing to have all of these conversations as well? Why do we want to open that can of worms? I'm happy to do that if that's where he wants to go. I just don't think that's what Canadian taxpayers care about right now, when we have all of this information that we need to be getting out to people to get answers to a budget that has deeply disappointed people who are suffering. This is just a waste of everyone's time, as the last nine years have been.

That's all I have to say.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you.

I believe next up is Mrs. Gray, then Mr. Seeback—

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I thought you said I was next.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Yes, I forgot about you.

It's Mr. Gerretsen on the motion, and then Mrs. Gray.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I'm easy to forget.

On the motion, with all due respect to the comments made by Ms. Ferreri, if we had just voted on my motion after I tabled it, the minister would probably have already answered all of our questions and left by this point.

The reality is that Conservatives don't want to vote on this motion. It's why they're putting up roadblocks. It's why they're preventing us from even trying to entertain the motion. It's why they now have to face a difficult decision. The difficult decision is to either vote in favour of this motion—which is the right thing to do—or to vote against it.

However, to my Conservative colleagues, the absolute worst decision you could make is to try to filibuster on this motion. If you try to filibuster this and just sit there and talk endlessly—

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Go ahead on your point of order, Mrs. Gray.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

I'm asking that the member opposite speak through the chair and not directly at us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mrs. Gray.

[Rosemary Falk]

It's Mrs. Falk.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

It's Mrs. Falk. I'm sorry.

That's a valid point. Mr. Gerretsen, direct your commentary through me, the chair.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, in my opinion, the worst thing Conservatives could do right now is filibuster this, because they'll drag out the inevitable and show Canadians they are not willing to stand up for what is right. What is right is very clear in this case, Mr. Chair: Conservatives should vote in favour of this. Had they done that right after I introduced it, this issue would have been put to bed already.

Better yet, if the Conservatives ask their leader to do the right thing and apologize, I'll withdraw my motion. On social media, put out a post saying, “I made an error.”

Mr. Coteau is absolutely correct. If he just made an error and it was a case of bad judgment, why is it so hard to say it's a case of bad judgment and he shouldn't have done that, Mr. Chair? That's what he should have done. The reason he won't do that is that he's afraid of the political outcome of trying to distance himself from these extreme groups.

Therefore, Mr. Chair, I would respectfully ask my Conservative colleagues to vote on this matter. Vote yea or vote nay, but don't filibuster. If they filibuster, Mr. Chair, all they're doing is showing they are willing to not do what's right in the interest of trying to save their leader's reputation from the actions he took last week.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Gerretsen.

I'll go to Mr. Seeback and then Madame Chabot.

I'm sorry; it's Mrs. Falk and then Madame Chabot.

Which one is it? Is it Mr. Seeback or Mrs. Falk?

I'm sorry. I haven't been calling you “Mrs. Falk”.

Go ahead, Mr. Seeback.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

The problem with most of what that member just said is that it's just not accurate. That's actually not what's before the committee.

What he's put before the committee is something completely different. He did it while his minister is here to testify on her deplorable record of supporting people with disabilities and their terrible decision to insult Canadians with disabilities by giving them $6 a day. She could be speaking about that, trying to defend that indefensible position—

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

I have a point of order again, Mr. Chair, and again it's on relevance.