Mr. Speaker, happy Friday to you. First, I would like to commend my colleague for all her extremely serious and diligent work in the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. I find it reassuring that a parliament has an ethics committee. Ethics are neither laws nor morals, but the best behaviour that one must display in all circumstances. I know that my colleague has worked very hard, read the documents and questioned the witnesses. In fact, journalists have even relayed the questions she has asked in committee. We have seen the relevance of her questions on TVA and Radio-Canada.
I have two or three questions for her so that she can help us understand something that seems quite incredible, and that is how a former Prime Minister, who held the most senior office in the country, could have accepted contracts in the final days of his public life. He was no longer the Prime Minister, but he was still a member of Parliament.
I would like our colleague to go over some things. When the former Prime Minister agreed to meet with Mr. Schreiber and do some lobbying work, a code of ethics already existed in the House of Commons for all members of Parliament. I would like our colleague to comment on how the former Prime Minister ended up breaching this code of ethics.
I would also like her to show us how important it is for a parliamentary committee or public representatives, who are elected, to play the role of guardian. We are the guardians of public integrity. It is very important that this committee be more than just any committee.
I have always thought that the contribution of MPs to an issue like this is important in terms of research, even though I have heard some analysts say that we do not have the same means available to a public inquiry. There is no doubt about that. And nor do we want parliamentary committees to turn into courts of law, but the fact remains that parliamentarians have a job to do.
I would like her to describe her contribution and that of her committee to clarifying one of the most disturbing political events of past few years.