Mr. Chair, thank you.
We've talked quite a bit about precedent and we've addressed four cases or so from the last couple of decades. I think there is quite a bit of precedent that says that it doesn't need to be a question of privilege. I'll just read from a couple of articles from 2014, for example:
Conservatives to table bill that will reorganize Elections Canada.
The Conservative government will introduce changes to the Elections Act this week that caucus members expect to restructure the office in charge of investigating [elections]....
Conservative sources expect the bill to reorganize...the branch of Elections Canada that investigates and prosecutes electoral crimes.
... “close loopholes to big money, and give law enforcement sharper teeth, a longer reach and a freer hand.”
The bill would remove the Commissioner of Canada Elections, where the investigators work, from Elections Canada and set it up as separate office, sources say.
There are numerous such examples over the last few years, in which specific details of bills were released up to a month in advance, and no question of privilege was raised.
Would you consider this a precedent that we should be looking at?