Evidence of meeting #135 for Justice and Human Rights in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was general.
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7:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
I will let you move the motion. There is no problem.
But remember we had said that Monsieur Fortin—
7:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
—and then it was Ms. May and Mr. Weir.
Would you like to wait for your motion?
7:05 p.m.
NDP
Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC
I'd like to move the motion in the time allotted to me, and then I'd like to have a vote, if there's a need to do so. Then, of course, we'll hear from the others, as we've agreed.
7:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
Okay, that's fine with me. You have a right to move a motion within your time.
I'm only pointing out that that requires the witness to stay here then for those last questions, as opposed to liberating her.
7:05 p.m.
NDP
Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC
Absolutely. This is a short motion.
I move:
That, in the interest of transparency and accountability, the justice committee call upon the Prime Minister and the Governor in Council to waive solicitor-client privilege and cabinet confidentiality relating to the SNC-Lavalin issue, so that the former Attorney General can inform the justice committee of any relevant information with respect to the period subsequent to her ceasing to serve as Attorney General of Canada on January 14, 2019.
In other words, Mr. Chair, we are to a certain point, and we've been told that thereafter we cannot ask questions and the witness cannot tell us what happened.
I think the evidence is abundantly clear that we need to know that. Therefore, I am moving that this committee request of the Prime Minister and the Governor in Council that that order in council be altered accordingly.
7:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
Thank you very much.
I'd first ask if any of you need time to consult and discuss this motion among yourselves, or is everybody good to go ahead, debate and vote?
7:10 p.m.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
If it's okay with you, can we just confer among our Liberal colleagues for five minutes?
7:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
That's what I was just asking.
Can I ask the question again, Mr. Rankin? You moved the motion. Can we ask the last three questioners to go ahead and then have a brief pause for the consultation?
7:10 p.m.
NDP
7:10 p.m.
NDP
Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC
I'm more than happy to consider it a notice of motion. I would request that we come back to it immediately after the testimony today.
7:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
Absolutely.
I'm suggesting we have Monsieur Fortin, Madame May and Mr. Weir get their three minutes in—
7:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
—and let the witness be liberated, and then we can come back to this. We'll just have a brief pause.
7:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
The word “liberated” is probably not the right word.
Who wants to speak first, Mr. Fortin, Ms. May or Mr. Weir?
Shall we have ladies first?
Ms. May.
February 27th, 2019 / 7:10 p.m.
Green
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Gilakas'la. I want to ask something very clearly and then move to a different line of questioning from what others have been asking.
First of all, do you believe that, individually or collectively, the pressure to which you were subjected contravened the Criminal Code?
7:10 p.m.
Green
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
There are a lot of power relationships we've been discussing. Most of the questions have gone to the power relationships around political actors, the chief of staff, the principal secretary to the Prime Minister and your role with two hats, judicial and cabinet hats.
However, there's a very prominent role being played by, I think, unusual actors in the civil service, where the power relationship is that the Clerk of the Privy Council is the boss of the deputy minister at the Department of Justice, and down through the chain, with you essentially acting as a bulwark to protect the independence of the director of public prosecutions.
I wanted to go back to your testimony, as there were a couple of places where you mentioned some things, and I wondered if they were concerning to you, and if so, why.
In chronological order, you mentioned that, on September 7, the deputy minister was able to have certain sections of the section 13 notice read aloud to her, but she did not want to receive or be given a copy of it. Was that in any way concerning to you? It's included in your testimony; I just wanted to pursue it.
7:10 p.m.
Liberal
Jody Wilson-Raybould Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
Again, as the Attorney General, I worked very closely not only with my chief of staff but with the deputy minister, and this applies to my then-deputy minister and the Clerk of the Privy Council. When public servants get involved in political discussions, of course I have concerns and I believe that's inappropriate.