Very briefly, I'll simply give my thoughts on whether or not the motion that Mr. Comartin has raised here relates to parliamentary privilege.
In my mind, it definitely does. Members of this committee, while conducting a study on a bill, in this case Bill C-36, properly asked questions of one of the witnesses. The witness said he had the information to be able to answer the questions but not in his physical possession at that time. He was then asked if he could provide that information to the members of the committee through the chair before November 16, as we were going to clause-by-clause at that time. The witness clearly stated that, yes, he could do so.
On November 16 we presented ourselves for clause-by-clause, and some members asked where the information was from that witness. They were informed that the information had been sent to their offices, that it had been distributed to all members.
In answer to Mr. Moore's statement, those members, having being informed they were in possession of the information they felt they needed to properly conduct their duties and responsibilities as parliamentarians and proceed to clause-by-clause as it would inform their decisions on the clause-by-clause, did not make an issue of it because they assumed the fault was theirs or that of their staff.
It was only once we had completed clause-by-clause that we were informed, or at least some members were informed, that this information had been available but had been...I hesitate to use the word “diverted”, but had landed in the office of the minister and had not been distributed to members of this committee. Therefore, these members, Mr. Comartin in particular and Mr. Lemay, proceeded to clause-by-clause based on erroneous information.
I believe it does relate to parliamentary privilege. We have a duty and a responsibility to do what we feel is necessary to prepare ourselves when we're conducting a study of legislation in that particular case. Some members felt they needed certain information prior to feeling comfortable to moving to clause-by-clause. They were informed they would get the information. In fact, they did not get it but were misinformed that they had gotten the information.
My view is that it does relate to parliamentary privilege and to a potential breach of parliamentary privilege.