OTTAWA, ON – Yesterday the Liberal majority on the House of Commons Industry Committee voted against inviting Bombardier executives to appear before it, despite the repeated urging of the Conservatives.

 

Bombardier was first requested to appear before the committee by Conservative MP Maxime Bernier on February 23rd, 2016. On April 14th, 2016, Conservative MP Alex Nuttall moved a motion to request Bombardier appear. On June 14th, 2016 MP Nuttall brought forth another motion inviting Bombardier to committee. The Liberals have voted against each one of these invitations.

 

Any person can be requested to appear before a parliamentary committee, but a majority of the committee’s members must support this, and the Liberals have repeatedly voted against inviting Bombardier.

 

“Yesterday I once again tried to invite Bombardier to appear before our committee so Members of Parliament can hear about the status of their bailout negotiations, but the Liberal majority voted against this,” said Nuttall. “I’m disappointed that I learn more about the negotiations from leaks to the press, than in the committee that should be dealing with this. The Liberals like to talk about empowering parliamentarians through openness and transparency, but over and over again they have shut down debate, and stifled dissenting opinions.”

 

“The Liberals are now complicit in blocking public accountability and transparency of the Bombardier bailout,” Poilievre said. “The Liberals once promised to be open and transparent, but now they are not only negotiating with Bombardier in secret; they are actively blocking the public and the Opposition from knowing the details of these negotiations.”

 

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