Mr. Speaker, I rise on a question of privilege arising out of the leaking to the media of the report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development on changes to social programs.
I submit that the privileges of members of this House have been breached by the premature release to the media of this report due to be tabled today. It is a question of privilege because it is a violation of the proper order of proceedings that reports from committees should be presented first in the House of Commons so as to ensure equal opportunity to access by all members of Parliament and all Canadians. Until such presentation in this House, reports should be confidential.
To accentuate the breach that has taken place, as an associate member of the committee I was denied access to the report while it was freely available to the press.
I would ask that you consider what appropriate action might be taken to deal with what is surely a gross contempt of the rules and procedures of this House.