Mr. Speaker, we are now in the third week of debating this privilege motion. It is the third week since the House came to a standstill, and it does not have to be this way. The blame lies four-square on the shoulders of the Liberal government. It is essentially snubbing its nose at Parliament; at you, Mr. Speaker; and ultimately at the Canadian public.

Parliament has a right to request documents, to hold the government to account and to get accurate information so we may or may not see, we do not know for sure, if there has been corruption at the expense of Canadians. The House requested that the documents related to Sustainable Development Technology Canada be provided, based on damning reports from the Auditor General.

The Liberals did produce some documents, but far from the number they were supposed to and they blacked out page after page. We are getting, “Oh, that's very interesting information,” not. It is blacked out. “This is very interesting information,” not. It is blacked out.

It is a mockery of Parliament. Our party and the other opposition parties appealed to the Speaker's office to rule on this violation. I have to commend the Speaker, who made a careful examination, along with the table officers, and came back saying the Prime Minister and the Liberal government were in violation of members of Parliament's privilege. That is why we are having this debate.

I know there are questions and accusations from the Liberals, saying we are just trying to delay Parliament, but the fact is that the Speaker ruled that they need to produce these documents and they have not. We are reminded of another situation not that long ago where a Liberal Speaker, a Liberal member of Parliament in the Speaker's role, just as the current Speaker is, ruled that documents regarding the lab in Winnipeg be produced. What did the Liberals do? They would not produce the documents. The Speaker ruled that they should produce them, and the government said it would take court action against the Liberal Speaker at the time.

It did not go that far. He did not have his day in court. The Liberals thought maybe it was not the best idea, taking a Speaker to court, someone who was voted in as a Liberal, and that maybe it would be an opportune time to call an election, in the middle of the pandemic. It was something they said they would not do but then took advantage of, while hiding the information that never came out. It was probably damning information that would have impacted their electoral fortunes. That is what they did. They blocked, to prevent information from coming out. That is what what we are seeing happen again and again. I hope the Speaker does not find himself in court because of the decision he made.

As I mentioned, this debate would stop if the government would produce the unredacted documents. The question is, why has the government not produced them? I did not ask why it will not, because there is still the slimmest of hope that the government will do the right thing, the democratic thing, and produce the documents. I am not going to hold my breath, but I am hopeful that there is a slight possibility. We are still here and they can still act on it.

The public and all of us are wondering what the big deal is. Why will the Liberals not just do the the right thing, the appropriate thing, and produce the documents? Is it because the current government has grown long in the tooth, has run out of steam and is happy to let the parliamentary calendar waste away? It seems that way. We are on our third week and it does not seem very anxious to produce these documents. We want to get back to business.

Marc Dalton

$664,317.00