First, I've never been quoted with such approval by Mr. Kent and Mr. Angus. I encourage them not to stop in the future, although I do disagree with some comments Mr. Kent made earlier referring to those of us on this side as minions. I have voted my conscience once or twice.
I would also note that I expressed skepticism a couple of weeks ago with respect to the ability of a committee like this to function as an investigatory body and pointed to commissioners and their roles as more up to that task. I did say a couple of weeks ago that the motion then was premature, and I did so on the basis that I didn't want to predetermine what new evidence Ms. Wilson-Raybould was to put forward. I am still of the view that had that evidence been new, had there been new allegations made that required another look, it would have been open to our committee to undertake that.
That's not what happened. Instead, there was a 43-page submission on the heels of three and a half hours of testimony, and at the end of that 43-page submission, Ms. Wilson-Raybould wrote, “As such, for my part, I do not believe I have anything further to offer a formal process regarding this specific matter”.
I would also note that on April 4, in the most recent Maclean's interview, Ms. Philpott noted, “I think there's enough information out there now for Canadians to judge what took place.”
You have the two principal individuals who raised these concerns in the first place saying that we've heard all we need to hear, and certainly Ms. Wilson-Raybould in particular has said that she has submitted everything that needs to be submitted. For us to then undertake and renew this process doesn't strike me as an effective use of our time. With the Ethics Commissioner attending before us, or at least his office attending before us for the estimates, we should still be putting questions to the Ethics Commissioner as to whether that office has the tools, resources and mandate to do this job effectively.
Mr. Angus, obviously, noted the Conflict of Interest Act, and it is our purview, but typically we don't undertake these investigations ourselves as a committee. We ensure that the commissioner is doing the job he needs to do and that the commissioner reports to this committee directly on those investigations.