NDP, Liberals claim Conservative filibustering derailed ministers' testimony on auto theft

NDP and Liberal MPs blamed a Conservative filibuster for derailing plans for a parliamentary committee to hear from two cabinet ministers Thursday about the spike in auto thefts.

Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc appeared before the public safety committee a day after Interpol named Canada as one the top ten sources for stolen vehicles out of the 137 countries sharing data with the agency.

The committee, which has been studying auto theft in Canada since February, has held six meetings and heard from 31 witnesses so far.

But before the ministers could speak, Liberal, NDP and Bloc Québécois MPs on the committee voted to first deal with a motion put before the committee by Conservative MP Garnett Genuis at a previous meeting.

Genuis objected, saying his motion should be dealt with later. He then called for a number of votes that would have let the ministers in the room speak, all of which were voted down by the other parties.

«If he wants to hear from the ministers, we have no speakers up, we're prepared to vote on his own amendment that he's filibustering,» Liberal MP Jennifer O'Connell said. «We're prepared to vote and get right to the ministers.»

Speaking for almost a full hour, Genuis said he wanted a vote on his previous motion to be pushed back because it had not been debated enough.

«We have, as the committee has seen, repeatedly moved for us to be able to hear from the ministers,» Genuis said.

«It's clear that the Liberals did not want to allow the ministers to appear and they and their coalition partners have repeatedly blocked our attempt to proceed to hearing from the ministers.»

After an hour, Rodriguez and LeBlanc were dismissed by the committee chair.

The committee was