Since we are going to proceed with hearing from the witness, I wanted to draw to your attention the rules governing committees, in chapter 20, at page 1,068: “Particular attention is paid to the questioning of public servants”.
As we know, Mr. Togneri is a public servant with the Department of Public Works and Government Services. It states:
The obligation of a witness to answer all questions put by the committee must be balanced against the role that public servants play in providing confidential advice to their Ministers. The role of the public servant has traditionally been viewed in relation to the implementation and administration of government policy, rather than the determination of what that policy should be. Consequently, public servants have been excused from commenting on policy decisions made by government. In addition, committees ordinarily accept the reasons that a public servant gives for declining to answer a specific question or series of questions which involve the giving of a legal opinion, which may be perceived as a conflict with the witness' responsibility to the Minister, which are outside of their own area of responsibility, or which might affect business transactions.
Carrying on, on page 1,069, it states:
Witnesses appearing before committees enjoy the same freedom of speech and protection--