Mr. Speaker, I charge that the government is undermining the RCMP by making this a biased process, thereby making it impossible for Canadians to believe that anything coming out of this inquiry which may exonerate certain actions of the RCMP is anything more than a cover-up. I think that is shameful on the part of the government.
I want to ask the parliamentary secretary a quick question on the basis of this quote from the solicitor general: “Civilian oversight is a very important instrument in a free and democratic society”, in reference to the public complaints commission, “and in this case it is that very process, that informal process, that needs to be protected”.
The government is sending the chief crown prosecutor from Ottawa, aided by two lawyers from Vancouver, to protect the Prime Minister and sending David Scott, a highly experienced jurist from Ottawa. Could the parliamentary secretary advise the House how the government's sending of four lawyers, probably at a cost exceeding $1,000 an hour, works toward the so-called process of this being an informal process? The Prime Minister has turned it around and has not permitted it to be an informal process by this very high priced protection for him.