Thanks, Chair.
I have a couple of things on this, but it is I think virtually impossible, given where we are right now in the process, if we were to report back to the House on this question, that the Speaker would find a prima facie case that their privilege has been breached here.
We have a situation where a witness said they didn't recall in a couple of cases and where the witness was repeatedly cut off in the midst of answering a question. I take the point of Nathalie that she didn't feel that her questions were directly answered in a way that she was looking for. The witness is still in the midst of.... From what I heard from the chair very clearly at the outset and then again when he excused Mr. Bains, there was an understanding that he could come back and he was willing to come back.
I've said previously that it was premature, but if we were to report it at this time, it very obviously would not be a prima facie breach of privilege. Not only does it not amount to anywhere close to the Firth precedent, which is a deeply concerning precedent, but this is no different from any number of instances of testimony I've heard over the years where we don't get the yes-or-no answer we demand from a witness, perhaps, but there's still an answer, whether we like it or not.
I should just note, because there have been many aspersions of criminal conduct on Ms. Verschuren by Conservatives, that in the midst of answering a question about Ms. Verschuren and the point that she was appointed by the Harper government initially on a board.... It would be worth understanding. I don't know if the Conservatives fully understand her history. We know that the Ethics Commissioner has found a couple of violations—for example, she should have recused herself instead of abstaining. In a second instance, she voted for a bundled approval in keeping with legal advice and ultimately that was incorrect advice to follow. This isn't a criminal character or criminal conduct here, despite what Conservatives allege.
If we had allowed Mr. Bains to finish his answer, we would have learned, for example, that she began her career as a development officer with the Cape Breton Development Corporation. She then worked with the Canada Development Investment Corporation. She then worked at AMASCO. She launched Michaels of Canada—for those who know and I have kids who enjoy arts and crafts—and then she landed the CEO role at Home Depot, where she grew Home Depot Canada in a significant way.
She has been appointed to a number of government advisory roles, including the economic advisory council during the economic crisis in 2008, the Canada-U.S. Council for the Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders and the advisory council for NAFTA. She recently participated in government round tables on climate action decarbonization. She is the chair of the MaRS Discovery District board. She's on the board of the Ontario Energy Association.
In 2011, in the Harper tenure, she was honoured as an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contributions. She was appointed in 2010 as the co-chair of the Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference—