Thank you, Chair, and happy new year to colleagues around the table.
I thank you for your decision to call this meeting in response to my letter, Mr. Chair.
Just to remind the committee, and for the record, my request to you was to place this motion today to be considered by the committee:
That, the Committee invite the Prime Minister to discuss Commissioner Dawson's finding in The Trudeau Report released by the Commissioner's office on December 20th, 2017, and that this meeting take place either on January 17th or January 18th, 2018.
To explain the logic behind this request, Chair, I'll remind all members that the commissioner released her report, “The Trudeau Report”, one week after the House of Commons rose in December. Several hours after that report was released, the Prime Minister did meet with the media in the lobby of the House and held what I think is most fairly described as a disjointed news conference, struggling to answer some very basic questions from journalists with regard to the commissioner's findings.
The Prime Minister did make an apology in that news conference, but it was a qualified apology. In the same sentence, he made clear that he disagreed with Commissioner Dawson's finding against his claim of a deep and lasting relationship with the Aga Khan.
Why today's meeting? Why my motion before the committee today?
Well, most members of Parliament should be back on the clock. We've all had an appropriate holiday break. Just as important, the Prime Minister's schedule this month is somewhat more flexible than it will be, I anticipate, come the end of the month, when the House resumes and when he will have obligations elsewhere in the country and abroad.
Why this motion to invite the Prime Minister? Well, questions with regard to his holiday in the Caribbean, in question periods throughout this past year, have not been met with meaningful answers.
This committee is empowered by the Standing Orders of the House of Commons to respond to the report and the consequences reported by the Ethics Commissioner. This is a calm and respectful setting in which to discuss the commissioner's findings with the subject of that investigation and that report: the Prime Minister of Canada. There is no heckling, questions are respectfully answered, and questions can be put in a relaxed manner over a period of an hour or two. This committee has had a succession of ministers, departmental officials, deputy ministers, and commissioners here in recent months, without mishap and without complaint.
What would such a meeting discuss with the Prime Minister? Well, aside from questions about his initial qualified apology, there are elements of the Prime Minister's testimony contained in the commissioner's report, observations and conclusions by the commissioner in this extensive report of 60 or 70 pages, depending on how you measure them, and comments by the Prime Minister—for example, on the way he sees himself as Prime Minister in situations with stakeholders or those petitioning for favours or financial benefit from the Government of Canada.
I would point to the commissioner's observation that she concluded the Prime Minister felt that he could appear on two occasions with the Aga Khan, for example, exposing himself improperly under the Conflict of Interest Act, on the excuse that he wasn't there on official business: he was there to build relationships.
To come to the motion before us, yesterday the spokesman at the Prime Minister's Office said that Liberal members of this committee were not influenced in the decisions they would take here today, and that they were open to vote with their conscience, to make their own choices on whether to support this motion.
I must say that this morning I was disappointed in the Prime Minister's remarks from the east coast, when he said that he wants to avoid the Ottawa news “bubble”, that he wants to take questions on this matter from Canadians at round tables and in town halls across the country.
I would simply respectfully remind the Prime Minister that he has the same duties and obligations as every member of Parliament to be accountable to Parliament and to respect the rules, regulations, and laws of Parliament, particularly the Conflict of Interest Act. Given the unprecedented serious findings of four violations of significant elements of the Conflict of Interest Act, I believe it is his responsibility to make himself available to members of Parliament to discuss the report and his feelings about the commissioner's findings, and there is no more appropriate location, I believe, than before this committee, which is responsible for the ethical practices of the House of Commons.
That said, I'll close here, Chair, and simply invite my Liberal colleagues to walk through the door that was so generously opened by the Prime Minister's Office yesterday and support my motion to invite the Prime Minister to attend this committee in the near future.