Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ethics being the purview of this committee, we are in pursuit of what is fair, what is right and what is appropriate. We must be careful not to confuse bias with reality. We must be careful not to make a value judgment without the facts. We must be extremely diligent.
At the end of the day, the purpose of ethics and our committee is not to lay blame. Rather, it is to shed light on the situation.
In this case, I'm having a hard time seeing how this is a matter of public interest. I'm not saying the public interest is non-existent, but I want to say this to my fellow members: With all the issues we need to examine, I'm not so sure this is the best decision for us to make right now. As Mr. Green pointed out, we would have to look at this as a potential conflict of interest. Was there really a conflict of interest or not? For the time being, it's more of a made-up conflict of interest than anything else.
I think we should opt for an alternative to this motion.