Mr. Speaker, the proceedings of the in camera meeting of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources and Government Operations looking into a proposal to invite a member of the Senate's board of internal economy to appear before the committee to defend the Senate's increases in spending has been deliberately revealed to the media.
I deliberately revealed the contents of the meeting. The contents of the meetings have been revealed in the Ottawa Citizen , the National Post and others.
Beauchesne's 6th edition, citation 57 reads:
The House has in the past regarded the publication of the proceedings or reports of committees sitting in camera to be a breach of privilege.
While this is a clear contempt of the House, I feel it is a justifiable contempt since the principle of accountability is, in my opinion, greater than the principle of secrecy of an in camera meeting.
A request to have a representative from the Senate defend its estimates before a House of Commons committee is an attempt to bring some accountability to the Senate. The decision by the Liberal majority on the natural resources and government operations committee to consider this proposal in secret confirms the government's policy that the Senate need not be accountable for its thirst to spend taxpayer money.
Mr. Speaker, if you find this to be a prima facie question of privilege I am prepared to move the following motion: That the deliberate disclosure of the March 4, 1999 in camera proceedings of the committee on natural resources and government operations concerning the proposal to invite a member of the Senate's board of internal economy to appear before committee to defend its increase in spending be referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.