OTTAWA — A Liberal MP says his committee colleagues are wasting time by launching a third inquiry into the former employment minister instead of focusing on important legislation for Indigenous Peoples.
Jaime Battiste, who is Mi'kmaq, said there has been an"attack" on fellow Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault, who left his position as employment minister on Wednesday after allegations of shifting claims of Indigenous identity and questions around his past business dealings.
"It’s very much my fear and frustration that politics is now becoming more important at the Indigenous and northern affairs committee than actually Indigenous Peoples that we're there every day to try to make life better for," he said. He has since clarified that his adoptive mother and brother are Métis, and he apologized for his shifting claims last Friday.
But because Boissonnault is no longer in cabinet, the Liberal chair of the committee ruled Thursday that newly minted Employment Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor is technically the person the motion called to testify."If there are games to be played here and we have Minister Petitpas Taylor attend, I don't think that goes to the spirit of the House order.
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