Thank you, Madam Chair.
I find it very distasteful that we see our committee being once again misused in this manner and that your ruling as a chair is once again being overturned by the majority in the Conservative Party.
The ethics committee has a very specific and important function in the House of Commons. It is to look into and ensure for the Canadian public that the government is meeting its standards and obligations, that the crown corporations are meeting their standards and obligations, and that those under the ethics act, under the privacy issue, and under lobbying are meeting their obligations. That's what committees are called upon to do.
What we've seen over this last session of Parliament, under the leadership of the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, is an attempt to turn this committee into some manner of kangaroo court where the majority uses its power to investigate its political enemies. There are many jurisdictions in the world where the power of the majority is used to investigate and go after political enemies, but in the Westminster tradition, we are not one of them.