Speech (committee meeting)

{
    "time": "2020-10-15 21:10:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Mark Gerretsen",
        "fr": "M. Mark Gerretsen"
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"6317063\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Thank you. I'm only on page 28 of 151, Mr. Chair. I have a lot more to offer on this. If nobody else is going to defend these public servants, and if I can do my part, then I'm going to do that, because I think it is incredibly important.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317064\" data-originallang=\"en\">We're back to this scenario where, as I was saying before a conference call interrupted us, I'm just shocked. I'm shocked that the NDP and the Bloc would suggest that non-partisan government officials go down with this ship. I understand the political attacks. I even understand the sport the Conservatives get engaged in even when it comes to personal attacks. It's one thing to attack parliamentarians. We're fair game. We have the stage. We have a soap box we can stand on and defend ourselves. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317065\" data-originallang=\"en\">There is a rule when you get into politics, Mr. Chair, when you're an elected official. I learned this the hard way, I will say. I learned this the hard way, and I'll never forget this, because I think it's really important. It goes to this issue of how we treat public servants. That's really what my amendment is about. Rule number one is that you never attack or impugn motive on staff, because they can't defend themselves.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317066\" data-originallang=\"en\">I learned that the hard way. I think it was my first or second meeting when I was a city councillor. There was a big issue. We had just come off the election and were debating an issue. I really went after one of the city commissioners at the time. Afterwards, a gentleman who had been involved in the community a long time\u2014I won't name him\u2014came up to me and said, \u201cYou know, the way you treated that staff person, you should never put them in that situation,\u201d and he really reamed me out over it.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317067\" data-originallang=\"en\">In retrospect, I learned a lot from that. I learned a lot from that opportunity, because I realized that we need to be better when it comes to taking care of our staff. At the next meeting, the first thing I did, Mr. Chair, was to raise a point of order at the beginning of the meeting and apologize to that staff member for what I had done, because it wasn't right. In the same spirit, the lesson I learned that day from that individual\u2014he was a former principal of Queen's University, to be totally honest, though I still won't name him\u2014I continue to carry around with me to this day.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317068\" data-originallang=\"en\">Back to Mr. MacGregor's point, I'm not willing to just let this go, because this is about the integrity of officials, of parliamentary officers. I don't think it's appropriate that they're being treated this way, not being able to come and defend themselves. In the amount of time I've spoken just in this session, they could have defended themselves and answered some pretty quick questions about this, but of course the Conservatives don't want that. They don't want them to come and explain themselves, because it will completely discredit Mr. Poilievre's motive of trying to advance conspiracy theories, like the ones that, by the way, he shares from The Post Millennial. I can't believe Mr. Poilievre is retweeting The Post Millennial. I'll leave it at that. It's almost as bad as when the Conservatives get up and quote the Fraser Institute as a reliable source of information, but I digress. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317069\" data-originallang=\"en\">I'll go back to what I was reading here. From page 364 to 380, we have the actual funding agreement between WE and the Government of Canada, which was released by the PCO. Again, the professional public service redacted personal contact information. That's it. Mr. Poilievre, in all the ammunition that he's looking for, has the document entitled, \u201cCanada's COVID-19 economic response plan: support for students and recent graduates, funding agreement between Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Employment and Social Development (herein referred to as 'Canada') and WE Charity Foundation (herein referred to as 'the Recipient') hereinafter collectively referred to 'the Parties'\u201d.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317070\" data-originallang=\"en\"> If there is going to be a smoking gun, Mr. Poilievre, I hate to rain on your parade\u2014</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"6317063\" data-originallang=\"en\">Je vous remercie. Je n\u2019en suis qu\u2019\u00e0 la 28<sup>e</sup> page de 151, monsieur le pr\u00e9sident. J\u2019ai beaucoup d'autres choses \u00e0 dire \u00e0 ce sujet. Si personne d\u2019autre ne va d\u00e9fendre ces fonctionnaires et que je peux, au contraire, contribuer \u00e0 les d\u00e9fendre, alors je vais le faire, parce que je pense que c\u2019est extr\u00eamement important.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317064\" data-originallang=\"en\">Nous en revenons \u00e0 ce sc\u00e9nario o\u00f9, comme je le disais avant qu\u2019une conf\u00e9rence t\u00e9l\u00e9phonique ne nous interrompe, je suis tout simplement choqu\u00e9. Je suis choqu\u00e9 que le NPD et le Bloc puissent laisser entendre que des repr\u00e9sentants non partisans du gouvernement pourraient \u00eatre emport\u00e9s par cette vague. Je comprends les attaques politiques. Je comprends m\u00eame la dynamique dans laquelle les conservateurs s\u2019engagent, m\u00eame lorsqu\u2019il s\u2019agit d\u2019attaques personnelles. C\u2019est une chose d\u2019attaquer les parlementaires. Nous sommes dans notre bon droit. Nous avons la sc\u00e8ne. Nous avons une bo\u00eete \u00e0 savon sur laquelle nous pouvons grimper pour nous faire entendre. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317065\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur le pr\u00e9sident, il y a une r\u00e8gle que vous devez conna\u00eetre quand vous entrez en politique, quand vous \u00eates un \u00e9lu. Je dirais que je l'ai apprise \u00e0 la dure. J'ai appris cela \u00e0 la dure et je ne l\u2019oublierai jamais, parce que je pense que c\u2019est vraiment important. Cela concerne la fa\u00e7on dont nous traitons les fonctionnaires. En fait, c'est l'objet de mon amendement. La r\u00e8gle num\u00e9ro un est que vous ne devez jamais attaquer le personnel ou l'accuser de quoi que ce soit, parce qu\u2019il ne peut pas se d\u00e9fendre.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317066\" data-originallang=\"en\">J\u2019ai appris cela \u00e0 la dure. Je pense que c\u2019\u00e9tait \u00e0 ma premi\u00e8re ou \u00e0 ma deuxi\u00e8me r\u00e9union \u00e0 titre de conseiller municipal. Nous venions de sortir de l'\u00e9lection et il y avait un enjeu important dont il fallait d\u00e9battre. Je me suis attaqu\u00e9 sans r\u00e9serve \u00e0 l\u2019un des commissaires de la ville de l\u2019\u00e9poque. Ensuite, un homme qui \u00e9tait impliqu\u00e9 dans la communaut\u00e9 depuis longtemps \u2014 je ne le nommerai pas \u2014 s\u2019est approch\u00e9 de moi et m\u2019a dit \u00ab vous savez, vous ne devriez jamais traiter un membre du personnel comme vous avez trait\u00e9 cet homme, vous ne devriez jamais le mettre dans cette situation \u00bb, et il m\u2019a engueul\u00e9 vertement \u00e0 ce sujet.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317067\" data-originallang=\"en\">Je m'aper\u00e7ois maintenant que j\u2019ai beaucoup appris de cela. J\u2019ai beaucoup appris de cette situation, car je me suis rendu compte que nous devions mieux prendre soin de notre personnel. \u00c0 la r\u00e9union suivante, la premi\u00e8re chose que j\u2019ai faite, monsieur le pr\u00e9sident, a \u00e9t\u00e9 d'invoquer le r\u00e8glement au d\u00e9but de la r\u00e9union et de m\u2019excuser aupr\u00e8s de ce membre du personnel pour ce que j\u2019avais fait, parce que ce n\u2019\u00e9tait pas correct. Dans le m\u00eame esprit, la le\u00e7on que j\u2019ai apprise ce jour-l\u00e0 de cette personne \u2014 c'\u00e9tait un ancien directeur de l\u2019Universit\u00e9 Queen\u2019s, pour \u00eatre tout \u00e0 fait honn\u00eate, mais je ne le nommerai pas \u2014 est rest\u00e9e avec moi jusqu\u2019\u00e0 ce jour.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317068\" data-originallang=\"en\">Pour en revenir \u00e0 l'observation de M. MacGregor, je ne suis pas pr\u00eat \u00e0 laisser tomber, car il s\u2019agit de l\u2019int\u00e9grit\u00e9 des fonctionnaires, des agents parlementaires. Je ne pense pas qu\u2019il soit appropri\u00e9 de les traiter de cette fa\u00e7on sans qu'ils puissent venir se d\u00e9fendre. Seulement avec le temps que j'ai pris dans la pr\u00e9sente s\u00e9ance, ils auraient pu se d\u00e9fendre et r\u00e9pondre \u00e0 quelques questions assez rapides \u00e0 ce sujet, mais bien s\u00fbr, les conservateurs ne veulent pas cela. Ils ne veulent pas qu\u2019ils viennent s\u2019expliquer, parce que cela discr\u00e9diterait compl\u00e8tement l'objectif de M. Poilievre, c'est-\u00e0-dire de colporter des th\u00e9ories conspirationnistes, comme celles qu\u2019il reprend d\u2019ailleurs du <em>Post Millennial</em>. Je ne peux pas croire que M. Poilievre partage des gazouillis du <em>Post Millennial</em>. Je m\u2019en tiendrai l\u00e0. C\u2019est presque aussi mauvais que lorsque les conservateurs se l\u00e8vent et citent le Fraser Institute comme source d\u2019information fiable, mais je m\u2019\u00e9carte du sujet. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317069\" data-originallang=\"en\">Je reviens \u00e0 ce que j'\u00e9tais en train de lire. De la page 364 \u00e0 380, nous avons l\u2019accord de financement proprement dit entre WE et le gouvernement du Canada, accord qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 publi\u00e9 par le BCP. L\u00e0 encore, les professionnels de la fonction publique ont censur\u00e9 les coordonn\u00e9es personnelles. C\u2019est tout. M. Poilievre, dans sa grande qu\u00eate de munitions, dispose maintenant du document intitul\u00e9 <em>Plan d\u2019intervention \u00e9conomique du Canada pour r\u00e9pondre \u00e0 la COVID-19; Soutien aux \u00e9tudiants et aux nouveaux dipl\u00f4m\u00e9s; Entente de financement entre Sa Majest\u00e9 la Reine du chef du Canada, repr\u00e9sent\u00e9e par le ministre de l'Emploi et du D\u00e9veloppement social (ci-apr\u00e8s appel\u00e9 le \u00ab Canada \u00bb) et la \u00ab WE Charity Foundation \u00bb (ci-apr\u00e8s appel\u00e9 \u00ab le b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaire \u00bb), ci-apr\u00e8s collectivement appel\u00e9s les \u00ab parties \u00bb</em>.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6317070\" data-originallang=\"en\">S'il y a une preuve tangible, monsieur Poilievre, d\u00e9sol\u00e9 de vous d\u00e9cevoir...</p>"
    },
    "url": "/committees/finance/43-2/1/mark-gerretsen-140/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/mark-gerretsen/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/4311/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "10955448",
    "document_url": "/committees/finance/43-2/1/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fcommittees%2Ffinance%2F43-2%2F1%2F"
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}