Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will make two points. The first point is that if this information was promised and was required for clause-by-clause, then in my view, the appropriate course of action at that time would have been to raise an objection to proceeding to clause-by-clause and to have had a vote on it. I don't recall if that happened. Maybe I was asleep through it. Rather than smearing anyone, I would have preferred that we simply waited to do the clause-by-clause until the necessary information was available. In my view, that would have been the earliest opportunity.
Having said that, I wish to comment on the theory that this committee should offer up a decision on possibilities. If we're going to proceed on the basis that we will impugn people on the basis of possibility, one could imagine waiting until Mr. Comartin missed a meeting to raise some point of privilege on some allegation about something Mr. Comartin did or didn't do. He wouldn't have an opportunity to respond. Then we could simply pass a motion saying that it's possible that Mr. Comartin did something despicable and that we would like the House to consider that possibility.
Quite frankly, as people who are charged with matters of justice, it's surprising to me that anyone would overlook that fundamental principle of natural justice and not allow the minister some opportunity to comment on this before taking a decision. That would only be fair, not that we necessarily always proceed in a fair fashion. If we're going to do something that impugns the minister or even possibly impugns the minister, it would be fair to give him the opportunity to respond.
Having raised the matter at this opportunity, I don't think it would be held against Mr. Comartin under any provision that would require him to raise it at the earliest opportunity. I don't think, having raised it now, that it would hurt his case at all if we tabled the matter to a later date to allow the minister to respond. I'm not up on my parliamentary procedure, Mr. Chair, but if you'll accept it, I propose that we table Mr. Comartin's motion.