Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Professor Franks, in your presentation, you said that you would instead observe—and Mr. Reid raised this—that, as you understand it, the minister admitted that she misled the House. As the lawyers said res ipsa loquitur, the facts speak for themselves. I am going to refer to Speaker Milliken's two rulings.
In his ruling of February 10, he said: “In particular, the senior CIDA officials concerned must be deeply disturbed by the doctored document they have been made to appear to have signed.”
In his ruling of March 9, he said: “...I have taken great care to study the evidence in view of the very serious allegations regarding the conduct of a minister, who as a result has been subjected to harsh and public criticism...”
You mentioned that we are aware of the seriousness of the incident, but Speaker Milliken also mentioned the gravity of the situation that the minister has put herself in.
Do you think that, if our committee decides that there was contempt of Parliament, that would be exaggerated?