Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I agree with that. I think I won't need much time to relate what happened.
First of all, I would like to thank you, Mr. Chair, as well as the members of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, for hearing me today, so that I can speak about this incident which occurred on September 25, 2014.
I was in my office in the morning between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. As all members know, a bell was heard in our offices and the lights went on. It was as though the police had turned on their headlights. This reminds us to go and vote. It reminds us of our responsibility as parliamentarians, which is to go to the House of Commons and vote.
And so I left my office and the Justice Building. I took the little green shuttle bus that brings the members to the House of Commons and back to their offices. When we arrived at the back of the Confederation Building, the green bus stopped. The driver told us that it would be better for us to get off since the cars had been stopped for a while. Indeed, the line went from the rear of the Confederation Building right up to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police post inside the gates. The line was already quite long, and the bus driver told us that we would not be able to get through.
So I got off the bus with my other colleagues who were also on board. We walked up to the entrance which is at the front or on the side of the Confederation Building. If you are on Bank Street and you look south, it is to your right, just in the entrance.
I arrived there and there was an RCMP officer on Bank Street. I told him that I had to go up to Parliament. He answered me in English: “Get on the sidewalk”.
I saw that he did not speak French. And so I replied to him in English, as follows:
“Well, I am a member of Parliament and I have to go up.”
He answered in a very serious manner. He said, “I don't care, and get on the sidewalk”. I had just moved off the sidewalk in coming up. My colleagues behind me were from all parties. There were members from the Conservative Party and the NDP. I said, “Well, there's a vote up there and I need to go.”
The invited guest was not in yet. They were waiting for the invited guest to come in. I think it was the president of Germany who was coming in. I said that I really needed to go in, that there was a vote. He said, “I just don't care if you have a vote.” I pushed it a little more. I said, “In your view, in your attitude, you don't care, but it could be a vote that could bring the government down, a vote like that.”
You know and we know how votes go. It could be a vote like that.
I was pushing it right to what it could be and to our responsibility, and I said, “It could be a vote of confidence.” He said: “I don't care about the Parliament. I don't care about your vote. Just stay there and you don't move.” I said to the officer, “Well, I can tell you this: you are wrong.” I made the decision at that time to back off.
At the same there was an officer from the city of Ottawa there, a woman with a motorcycle. She was off her motorcycle. She said, “Sir, get on the sidewalk.” I remember what I said to her. I said, “Don't get mixed up in this one here; I'm dealing with the RCMP.” But then I stayed. After that, he walked across with me and he walked across the road. He said, “I'm just doing that for your safety.” I said, “No, it's not right what you've done, and I don't agree.”
One of my colleagues, Kennedy Stewart, was there as a witness. He heard the officer doing it. Just this morning I spoke to Ruth Ellen Brosseau, and they had another incident on the bus at the same time. The bus chauffeur didn't even want her to get off the bus. They had to argue with the bus chauffeur and say that they had to get out, but it didn't work out, because they could not go through either. I also hear—and you could check—that the immigration minister, Chris Alexander, was stopped from going through.
I spoke to the Speaker of the House of Commons. He was stopped as well. I don't remember if it was Thursday or Friday morning. His car was even searched by the police. He was in a hurry to go and open the sitting at the House of Commons. He told the police he was the Speaker and that if he could not get up there, the House of Commons could not begin its work. Once again, the attitude displayed could be summarized in the following way: “That's just too bad, not our concern; you can't go up there.”
Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I think this was totally unacceptable. For the record, I want to remind all members of the committee of one definition of parliamentary privilege, which is as follows: “Pursuant to parliamentary privilege, the holder has full access at all times, without obstacle or interference, to the Chamber of the House of Commons the holder is a member of.” That is what constitutes our privilege.
I will go even further. The police are supposed to ensure the security of members, but if they don't recognize us and if something happens involving the public at large, we may wind up being the victims. This is a very important matter.
When Bill Blaikie sat in Parliament a similar situation occurred. The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs studied the issue at the time. As you know, I was the NDP Whip at the time. The committee agreed that it was time for this to stop. Two years ago, in 2012, another incident occurred. Once again, we said that this had to stop. And yet, it happened again.
Mr. Chair, I have this privilege. I was elected by the citizens of the riding of Acadie-Bathurst to represent them. Parliament has its reasons to grant us a privilege which excludes interference. This implies the responsibility of letting us get in at all times.
I will simply add to that, openly, that the next time, I'm going to go through. They can deal with their problems. I'm going to take my privilege seriously.
