Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank the counsel very much for the explanations they've provided to Mr. Petit.
I've carefully examined clauses 43, 44 and following, precisely because they concern the accountability of parliamentarians. We'll see how the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill continues, but I must inform my Bloc québécois colleagues, with some regret, that we think the only problems with clause 44 are those raised by Mr. Walsh, the law clerk and parliamentary counsel. On the other hand, we believe that amendment NDP-1.1 from Mr. Martin corrects these deficiencies in the wording of proposed section 44.
So we can't support the Bloc's amendment.
However, I'd like to emphasize that, when the members of the House of Commons considered the possibility of adopting a code of ethics for members, particularly regarding conflicts of interest, and creating an independent Ethics Commissioner position, they wondered what person should have the power and even duty, in a way, of filing a complaint alleging that the conduct of another parliamentarian violated the code that would eventually be adopted, and that was.
What concerned most parliamentarians was precisely that a member, regardless of political allegiance, might be the subject of numerous frivolous, vexatious and other complaints, whereas the Commissioner had no power to sanction a person other than a parliamentarian.
The House—I don't remember whether the result of the vote was unanimous, but it was definitely a majority vote—deemed that the only persons in power to file a complaint had to be parliamentarians, who themselves were subject to the code of ethics.
The Liberals therefore will not support the Bloc québécois amendment. We're going to support the New Democratic Party's amendment instead.
We are ready to vote.