Information & Ethics Committee on June 10th, 2010

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

You will not question the decision of a chair, Mr. Poilievre.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

I'm sorry, I'm going to Mr. Siksay. That's my decision.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

I just want to say that I'm absolutely confident--

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order--

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

--about the position of this committee. I, for one, have no doubt about what we're proposing to do. Given the fact that three witnesses have refused our invitations and have refused to honour summonses to appear here, it's perfectly appropriate for us to report that to the House of Commons. I have no need for further legal advice on that because I don't believe there is any question of law that I need to have further information on.

Now, it may well be that the government needs legal advice on the consequences of our action, or that the three individuals--Mr. Togneri, Ms. Andrews, and Mr. Soudas--may need independent legal advice on the consequences of their action, but I don't need any further advice, given what we're going to do, which is simply, and it's as plain as the nose on our face, to report that these three individuals refused our invitation, refused to appear, and even when they were summoned they refused to appear.

Chair, I hope there will be consequences, but it's not my job to determine that. The House will determine that after we report what actually took place, the facts of the situation. That's the House's job, not mine. I don't need to be advised on those consequences in this context.

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Thank you.

We've now heard from every member around the table, so I'm going to put the question now on the Freeman motion.

[An hon. member]

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

We're getting repetition here. The chair has heard all of the arguments--

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Please call the question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

No, the chair is calling the question. I have decided that we've heard enough and we've had enough debate, and I want the question put now.

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

The chair will attempt to have Mr. Walsh appear next Tuesday. We are now back on our agenda.

We have had a bit of a discussion on this template. Mr. Siksay had an editorial change.

As we understand, because of the other Freeman motion that was passed, we could continue to consider the content of this. Should Mr. Soudas or Madam Andrews appear on Tuesday, this report would have to be updated to reflect that. Should either not appear on Tuesday, then the motion of Madam Freeman is moot in that they did not appear and we would go forward with this, so nothing would change.

On the commenting on the template that has been proposed, which is the factual summary of what has transpired to date, I had on the list to speak to this: Mr. Poilievre, Mr. Easter, Mr. Baird, Madam Davidson, Mr. Siksay, and Madam Freeman. That's the list when we left this to go to those other motions.

Mr. Hoback, you had a point of order.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Yes, please, Mr. Chair.

I was listening to you about next Tuesday. How much time is going to be allocated to Mr. Walsh? The whole meeting?

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

That is up to the committee. I will invite him to be our first order of business so that the committee will have the benefit of what he tells us, and then we can consider this report or any other report to the House and instruct the chair whether or not the committee authorizes the chair to table it in the House, either on Wednesday or Thursday.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

So I'll confirm that he'll be the priority for the committee on Tuesday?

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

We have to start with...because the member wanted to hear so that she could make a good decision with regard to the main motion.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Mr. Poilievre, did you want to speak on this document?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Yes.

I'd like to begin by making an amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Mr. Poilievre, help me out here.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Yes, I will. The amendment is in order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

This isn't a motion.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

It's a report.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

No. It is a document that was drafted by the clerk to give us an idea of a template. This hasn't been moved by anybody, and since we don't have a motion to adopt this—