You've never considered the matter. Thank you.
I'm interested because the other day Mr. Del Mastro brought this forward and then would not allow the New Democratic Party to even have witnesses. If he was so interested in this investigation, you'd think he'd want to hear from party office holders, but we were told we weren't allowed to have witnesses. We now see the one witness who says she's already sent him a letter that said there were no reasonable grounds.
I raise this because in your report you talk about the need to establish some norms of accountability and respect so that we don't erode public confidence in our democratic institutions. This isn't the first time this week that Mr. Del Mastro's gone off the rails.
I'd like to point out that in the Ottawa Citizen this morning the top headline is “Judges are above politics, council says”. This week Mr. Del Mastro tried to bring a judge before the committee as part of his war on the CBC. We explained to Mr. Del Mastro at the time that this was a real breach of the committee's role. Also this week Mr. Del Mastro was in The Globe and Mail for having intervened in the provincial election. So that's twice.
I raise this because you point in your work to specific issues in terms of political fundraising. In your report you talk about the problem of political fundraising, but you say that it's with respect to ministers and parliamentary secretaries and that more stringent provisions related to fundraising should be considered.
Would you be talking here about the Rick Dykstra and Minister Lisa Raitt affair?