I may be mistaken, and you may wish to ask Mr. Walsh or a member of his staff to come and provide additional clarity.
My understanding—and as I said, I could be wrong—is that ministers of the Crown, ministers of state, and parliamentary secretaries, when acting in their capacity as ministers of the Crown, ministers of state, or parliamentary secretaries, do not have the benefit of parliamentary privilege. Parliamentary privilege is incumbent on a member of Parliament, because you can have a minister of the Crown who is not a member of Parliament.
Historically, when one looks at the Canadian Parliament, from all of the parties that have governed to date, except for this new Conservative Party, the prime ministers in place have appointed individuals as ministers, as members of cabinet. Then they ran in a by-election or a general election within 12 to 18 months of their appointment. Therefore, they did not benefit from the parliamentary privilege that is given to members of Parliament or to senators.
My understanding is that this is in order to ensure that parliamentary privilege remains with a member of Parliament, either as a member of the House of Commons or the Senate. My point is that it does not diminish or affect parliamentary privilege, as has been in existence for several hundred years now.