Madam Speaker, I apologize for interrupting the business of the House in this debate to introduce a question of privilege, but I understand that this is an appropriate time to do so and I crave the indulgence of yourself and the House.
My question of privilege arises out of something which occurred this morning. It arises out of the publication of an article in the National Post newspaper by a reporter by the name of Mike Trickey in which he published, verbatim, parts of a draft report presently being considered by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
I would like to make a few preliminary comments about this publication prior to going into exactly why this is a question of privilege.
The first comment I would like to make is that the National Post seems to have a completely contemptuous disregard for the process of this House, which was clear from an editorial published last week. They seemed to totally misunderstand what is going on in our committee.
Apart from that, I was asked as chairman of the committee, by every one of the members of our committee who were there this morning, to raise this matter with you, Madam Speaker, and with our colleagues in the House.
Like all committees, we require that when we are doing our work and when we are operating in camera that that work be kept private. I will come back to citation 57 of Beauchesne's which speaks of the work of parliament in camera.
Madam Speaker, you know and members of the House know how hard we work in committee to arrive at what is best for Canadian citizens. That is where we discuss these issues.
This is a matter of national and international importance. The publication of this article, which takes out of context parts of this report, which was not a report but only a draft for consideration by members of the committee, intimates that conclusions have been made by the committee which have not yet been made in any way. It intimates that we are going in directions. The article leads us to believe that we are threatening our relations with the United States of America, one of our closest allies. It threatens the very nature of our Canadian politics.
The article is wrong in the sense that it pretends this is a report, when in fact it is a draft. It leads to conclusions which will interfere with the ability of members of our committee to conduct their hearings in a way which will enable us to come to a report which will be of benefit to this parliament, to the people of Canada and ultimately to the international community.
For all of those reasons I was asked if I would rise on this point. The members of our committee work hard. The members of our committee are determined to ensure that the House will have the benefit of their deliberations. They are all searching for the best solution for Canadians, from all parts of the House. The publication of a committee's proceedings prior to its conclusions and the release of a draft report is, in my view, a violation of the privileges not only of myself as the chair, but of every member of that committee and every member of this House.
How will we now come to an agreement on this draft when it has been released to the press? What do these people really care, except for getting some sort of a scoop? This is a question of the integrity of the parliamentary process. There is the integrity of the committee process that we as members of the House must consider.
We have a systemic problem. This is, I understand, a continuing practice. Every single report that has been discussed in committee so far this year has been released or leaked by someone to the press. It is reducing the committee process to a virtual impossibility. We will not be capable of discussing our reports if we cannot conduct our discussions in a way which will enable us to craft those essential compromises and those essential understandings which make the House work, which make democracy work and which make the committee system work.
Madam Speaker, I urge you to consider this matter. I would suggest that if it continues and is allowed to continue it will destroy the efficacy of the committee system which is the very underpinning of the democratic principles on which the House survives. This House will not survive if we as members cannot deliberate amongst ourselves and arrive at conclusions without someone leaking confidential materials and pretending or suggesting that those are the conclusions of the committee which have not yet been reached.
I suggest this raises a prima facie case of breach of privilege. It is a breach of my privilege as the committee chairman. It is a breach of the privilege of every member of our committee. Madam Speaker, I urge you to consider it as being a breach of the privilege of every single member of this House. It is happening with rapidity and it is going to destroy the way in which we function. It is a breach of privilege by the source who leaked the report. It is breach of privilege by the person who published it. I urge you, Madam Speaker, to consider this question.