Mr. Chairman, before we went into public session you gave us a hint that you were considering comments with respect to whether or not this motion is in order. You have made rulings on this type of thing in the past. Once again, I have notes on this very issue back in my office. You have misled us into believing we were going to be debating the Afghanistan issue. However, I can wing it, the way it appears that many of us are doing.
My recollection of the Standing Order, which is strictly a recollection at this stage, is that this committee has jurisdiction over members of the House of Commons, not over officials, and this motion talks about Conservative Party officials.
You indicated you were going to proceed as to whether or not this motion was in order. You have backed off that.
As I say, it's unfortunate that this whole topic, which wasn't on the agenda for today, came on the agenda at the last minute. You've put me, personally, at a great disadvantage because I was prepared to debate whether or not these motions were in order and I can't do that because I don't have my notes here. So I'm going strictly on memory that this committee can look at members of this House, of the House of Commons, but it doesn't have jurisdiction to deal with officials, and that's what this motion is all about; it's the word “officials”.