Correct, but even outside the House criticisms are made by one member of another about the person's suitability to perform his duties as a member of Parliament.
But I take your point seriously. I'll go to an example, which is purely hypothetical. If a...
I don't mean to make any comment on this particular householder, Mr. Chairman. It's not my place to comment on whether this householder is or is not a breach of privilege. This is a purely hypothetical examination.
Let's go to the question of inferences. The question of whether the facts stated are true or not you can look into and examine whether the statement is factually true or not. Even if it's factually true, you have the question of inference. Is there an inference by that statement of a kind that impairs the member's ability to do his duty?
Let's go to a different fact pattern. It's a silly example, I suppose, but it illustrates the point. You have a householder that says member so and so plays with little children. Well, hell, if he's a grandfather or a father, good for him. They're lucky to have grandchildren to play with. But if the next line is “Help stamp out child abuse”, clearly the inference from the earlier statement, which itself is quite true and rather innocuous, in my view would be that the member is part of the problem of child abuse.
The important consideration there, in my view, is that it's not a political statement about the member, it's a personal statement. It goes to the personal character of the member as a human being, whether he's a public office-holder or not. It goes to the personal character. And it may have the result that, if there's thought to be any truth to the inference, he's shunned by his colleagues in caucus, or he's shunned by fellow members of Parliament because he's a persona non grata in a moral sense, or, in an electoral sense, he's shunned by the constituents in his riding.
It seems to me there's an example of where a comment is made that is prima facie innocuous but context is not innocuous, and it reflects on the personal character of the member. That arguably, in some circumstance, could give rise to the inability of the member of Parliament to carry out his duty as a member of Parliament.