Mr. Speaker, I rise on a question of privilege on which I had given prior notice to the Chair. It concerns communications materials that have been put in the public domain that I feel reflect on the dignity of the House.
The first such document is a press release which comes from the Canadian Alliance website. It concerns the ongoing committee deliberations, initiated by the Canadian Alliance and referred by you to the standing committee, on the issue of conflicting statements by the Minister of National Defence. The press release dated February 26 begins by stating:
It is clear that Minister of Defence Art Eggleton deliberately misled the House of Commons when he changed his story about when he knew about the full details of capture and turnover of prisoners--
The press release goes on to quote several hon. members of this Chamber. It states:
“The Minister's feeble defence that he did not fully understand the extent of Canadian involvement has been shot full of holes by a senior military commander,” said Canadian Alliance Foreign Affairs Critic Brian Pallister.
It goes on to state:
“The evidence is now very clear that Minister Eggleton deliberately misled the House of Commons and Canadians,” said Leon Benoit--