Mr. Speaker, I have listened to the facts which have been brought before the House by both hon. members.
The government has no intention to participate in any way in an act which would constitute the contempt of this House.
Mr. Speaker, my suggestion to you, respectfully, would be as follows. Given that the minister is temporarily out of the House, I would suggest that she be able to examine what has been stated by the hon. member opposite and respond tomorrow in the House of Commons, or at a later time. At that point perhaps you, Mr. Speaker, would want to rule then whether or not there has been an instance of contempt, as opposed to simply a misunderstanding by someone who may or who may not have committed a mistake.
This would not unduly delay anything, given the fact that the parliamentary committee on procedure, privilege and elections has barely been constituted for 24 hours. I would suspect that it probably would not be able to hear the case for a few days and waiting until tomorrow would not unduly delay any proceeding or attempt to find out what is the truth. All of us want that to eventually come out.
Perhaps Mr. Speaker would want to accept this suggestion and, if so, render a ruling tomorrow or later. At that time we will have had an opportunity to listen to information that could be brought to this House by the minister responsible for the department in question.