Liberals and New Democrats on the Public Accounts Standing Committee blocked a vote on a Bloc Québécois motion to ‘invite’ Governor General Mary Simon to appear in a study of massive spending during his recent trip to the Middle East.
Bloc Québécois MP Alain Therrien tried in vain to introduce such a motion at Monday’s meeting and another for the Auditor General to seriously consider examining the expenses incurred during the trip, but the Liberals quickly challenged the admissibility of the first proposal.
According to the Bloc, the expenses incurred during the trip represent $319 per meal. “And here we are talking about lunches and dinner […] assuming it’s an open bar for everyone,” said Therrien.
He called the fee, revised to around $80,000, “exorbitant” for “ordinary people”. According to him, the Governor General has taken “funny folds”.
“I don’t see how that falls within the mandate of the committee,” Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos first launched.
The chairman of the committee, the conservative John Williamson, then explained to him why he considers that the motion is in order.
Although House of Commons Standing Orders detail that the Public Accounts Committee should consider the Auditor General’s Report and the Public Accounts, they also allow it to consider other areas if its members wish, a- he argued.
Mr. Williamson cited several sections of the regulations in support, including one that states that committees may consider “such other matters relating to the mandate, administration, organization or operation of the department as the committee deems good to consider”.
Mr. Fragiskatos returned to the charge by citing the mandate of the committee which relates entirely to the public accounts and the reports of the Governor General. According to him, the motion should be presented to the Standing Committee on National Defence, and not to the Public Accounts Committee.
He also argued that the committee’s terms of reference are the “absolute key” and that anything else “must fall within the terms of reference.”
“This motion relates directly to the expenses related to this trip and the public accounts (committee) is responsible for reviewing the expenses after the fact,” replied the president.
Liberal MP Brenda Shanahan tried to support her colleague, saying the committee is non-partisan and has a mandate to determine if Canadians are “good value for their money.” A study relating to the expenses of the Governor General would constitute a “precedent […] worrying” for the committee, she said.
The Conservatives have said they support the committee chair’s decision. “Is it common practice (to invite the Governor General to a committee)? No, but that does not prevent it from being within our means and abilities to do so, ”said curator Eric Duncan.
Silent during almost all of the exchanges, NDP MP Blake Desjarlais came to say that the issues addressed in the motion fall under the National Defense Committee. After the vote, Mr. Desjarlais specified that he is in agreement that these expenses be scrutinized in this other forum.
The chair then replied that the fact that another committee can study them does not prevent the public accounts committee from doing so as well.
After lengthy discussions, the Liberal MP called for a vote to challenge the decision of the chair. He did the same a few minutes later on the second motion that had just been presented. Each time, the decision of the presidency was overturned.
During a press scrum afterwards, Bloc Québécois Alain Therrien said he was “very disappointed” to find that “the NDP and the Liberals (do not) want to” shed light on the costs incurred during this trip “so that the population is struggling to make ends meet because of inflation”.
The Bloc Québécois has made it known that it intends to come back to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.