While that may be true, Chair, this is obviously a unique situation. I think you'd agree that this isn't your typical committee study. I think even calling it a study.... This is clearly an investigation.
I was listening intently to Ms. Khalid's point. I think she might want to reconsider the expression about making a lot of hay out of nothing. Colleagues have expressed, the chair of this committee, certainly many, many legal experts, the former Liberal attorney general in Ontario...suggested that charges have been brought against Canadians for obstruction of justice with much less evidence than we already have in place today. I think the experience that Ms. Wilson-Raybould has gone through in the last week is not nothing. Also, there's the experience of watching the Prime Minister stand up in front of Canadians and say that there's nothing to see here and the proof he has is that Jody-Wilson Raybould is still in cabinet, but less than 24 hours later, his proof evaporates.
Ms. Wilson-Raybould has not only left cabinet, but there's the spectacle of the Prime Minister referring to her in the first person while referring to male colleagues with their legal titles. I agree wholeheartedly with my colleague Ms. Raitt. I thought that spectacle was unbecoming of a prime minister, frankly, towards a woman who has held herself with some great integrity. I think the comments of Minister Philpott would do much better on this government than those by the Prime Minister himself.
Now, to this, we've actually made some suggestions that I have not heard any of my Liberal colleagues respond to. They just say they're going to support this. I'm sure my friends would like to reassure Canadians. We can't reassure Canadians, because we don't know what happened here yet. To suggest that we can reassure them, reassure them, and reassure them with this motion is to suggest that there's nothing to find. I would humbly submit that the last week, or less than a week, has told us that there's clearly something here. There are the most grave allegations, as the chair himself and others have commented on.
We keep talking about the Shawcross principle. I think it would be helpful for those trying to follow along to know what we're talking about. It is not the “Shawshank” principle, as some on Twitter have referred to it, once again confirming that that particular site isn't always great for information. It's about the role of the attorney general and particularly independence. I think it bears some understanding as to why I'm going to make a suggestion that we include more witnesses than the Liberals have put forward so far. I'd like to make a second suggestion as to the limitation of how deep we go into the weeds on some of these other legal principles.
The Shawcross principle on attorney general independence states that cabinet consultation is as follows:
confined to informing him [or her] of particular considerations, which might affect his [or her] own decision, and does not consist, and must not consist in telling him [or her] what that decision ought to be. The responsibility for the eventual decision rests with the Attorney-General, and he [or she] is not to be put, and is not put, under pressure by his [or her] colleagues in the matter.
This is what we're talking about. This is the fundamental thing. I understand that some committees often don't include all of their witnesses, but we've started. We've started naming some witnesses that Liberals, through your words, Chair, have reached out to. The first three you've mentioned here are also three who appeared on the Conservatives' list.
We have to include an invitation for Ms. Wilson-Raybould to speak. It baffles me that this isn't the most obvious thing in this entire conversation. Now, whether she chooses to or not.... We can't subpoena her, of course, nor would we. She has the privilege that's extended to all of us to not appear. She's also getting the highest-quality advice on that. Also on those allegations that have been brought forward, the principal secretary to the Prime Minister seems to also be an obvious witness who must testify, and so too does the senior adviser to the Prime Minister, Monsieur Bouchard.
It might be unusual, Chair. These might not be the precedents normally taken by the committee. This entire thing is unusual. This is not of the opposition parties' doing. This is a story that first came to us through Mr. Fife's reporting in The Globe and Mail. I don't want to call this a scandal yet, because that infers guilt and we're not there yet, but what I've often experienced is that it's not just the act itself; it's the attempt to cover up the act that Canadians so often find infuriating in our politics.
If the committee is sincere about reassuring Canadians that the system is working—that this system is working—then respond to some of the suggestions we've made as opposition parties. If collegiality and consensus-based decision-making are at interest here, we've made some suggestions.
I have put three extra witnesses forward. I haven't heard my Liberal colleagues respond to that.
Second is that if we are going to look at sub judice and if we are going to look at the Shawcross principle, we commit a day or a meeting, at your discretion, which the committee agrees to, to look at those.
My point is to put some time limitation on that. One could spend their entire legal career studying Shawcross if they wanted to. That's not helpful to anybody and it's not helpful to Canadians in understanding that.
I think if we are seeking to actually reassure Canadians, we can't reassure them on the outcome. This isn't making hay out of nothing. That's a mischaracterization of everything we've seen here so far.
I respect my colleagues. You're under a lot of pressure. None other than the Attorney General of Canada went on television this weekend and told you there is nothing to see here. That's unfortunate. I sympathize with the pressure you're under. As you've also said, your duty is to Canadians, not to the Prime Minister's Office, nor to the Attorney General.
We can come and collaborate on this. I think inviting Ms. Wilson-Raybould, the principal secretary, and at least the senior adviser to the Prime Minister, Monsieur Bouchard, seems obvious to everybody looking at this case. Why it wouldn't be obvious to all members on this committee is perplexing to me, and I think would invite the allegations of an attempt to limit and cover up what is actually happening here. My Liberal colleagues haven't said that in so many words, but I am sure that an interest they share with us is that Canadians do feel reassured that we're getting at this, understanding all the limitations we're faced with, with so many trials taking place.
The central argument, though, is that a very well-connected international company was able to lobby and successfully secure a change to our Criminal Code. It was placed into the very last pages of a 535-page omnibus bill. There are now allegations that the measure was then pushed upon the former attorney general, and that perhaps when she resisted she was fired. The Prime Minister then said that they were all on the same page and the evidence was that she was still in his cabinet. The next day she quit. If anyone wants to say that's not concerning to them, boy oh boy, they're living in another reality than the one I occupy.
I think we owe it to Canadians to do this, to consider the three extra witnesses that have been proposed, and to consider the suggestion to limit the study of these other legal principles so we don't go on some fishing expedition.