Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would also like to thank the guests who are with us today.
In short, the Speaker recognized that there was, on the surface, a question of privilege. I am certainly not calling into question the decision that was made. It led to the following motion:
That the matter of threats to, interference with, and attempted intimidation of, the honourable Member for Provencher be referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.
Frankly, I have been scratching my head since March 6, since the decision. I most certainly respect it. When I spoke, I said that it was important for the RCMP to be involved immediately because there had clearly been a threat. We all recognize that it is criminal and despicable. I've been wondering what else we can do.
You may have summarized the situation well by saying that being threatened from time to time is inherent to our profession. The Prime Minister, for example, is always physically surrounded for his protection.
We also know that on occasion ministers have had to be provided with protection because of a particular bill. It's in the nature of our business, and I believe I tried to make that point when I intervened before the decision was made. It goes with the job, in a sense, and it's something that we, and particularly cabinet ministers who bring forward laws, have to be aware of and accept.
So what can we do in these circumstances? You suggested awareness that these things can happen to us, and protecting access to our Internet materials, and that kind of thing.
By the way, I was hacked yesterday on my Twitter account. I must have been tired, but I was pulled in by probably a very old trick and realized that people are out there doing this kind of thing. That is something we should be more aware of; there's no question about it.
It seems to me that you are also saying we can react to individual cases and see what we can do and what the appropriate measures are. But at the same time, to some extent this goes with the job; while we want to protect members of Parliament as much as possible, we cannot provide a magic bullet here.
If Anonymous, for some miraculous reason—and I doubt that this will be the occasion—were to be caught and disbanded, there will be others. There are the OpenMedias and the Leadnows that make you aware that they are not in agreement with what a government decides, but they do so democratically; then there are the Anonymouses. But there will be lots of them, and that's the 21st century.
So what can we do—I'm asking the same question everybody else has asked—other than educate ourselves and be very careful?