I thank the hon. member for Vancouver East for having raised the matter. I also thank the hon. member for Athabasca, the hon. member for Winnipeg--Transcona, the hon. member for St. John's West, and the government House leader for their contributions.
Having heard all the submissions that have been made to me, my initial impression is that the question of privilege appears to raise two issues. First. whether or not the proceedings in the committee being held in camera are properly being held in camera. I think that was one of the arguments put to me if I am putting it in the correct form. Second, whether the committee had the power to adopt a motion that limited the right of members of the committee to speak on issues other than interviewing witnesses.
In both respects, in my view on its face, this is a matter over which the committee is master of its own proceedings. As the hon. member for Athabasca so ably pointed out, Speakers have consistently ruled that they do not interfere in matters that are before a committee where the committee is master of its own proceedings and has the power to make a decision on it, unless the committee makes a report to the House, and then the Speaker may or may not rule on some aspects of the report.
In this case, it seems to me that the matter at face value appears to be something that falls within the jurisdiction of the committee. It was properly raised in the committee. It should be dealt with in the committee and ruled upon by the chairman of the committee. Of course, his ruling is subject to appeal to members of the committee. Accordingly, I am of the view that on its face, this matter falls within the jurisdiction of the committee.
The hon. government House leader raised the matter of some hon. member being compelled to speak for 13 hours. I gather that was stated by the hon. member for Vancouver East. I was surprised to hear the government House leader express any surprise at that. As I recall, he was chief government whip, and I am sure had it been necessary to compel someone to speak for a period of time, maybe 20 minutes or half an hour on some matter, compellation would have been applied, but there have been more surprising things happen in the House on other occasions.
I will also look into the matter of who might have compelled the unfortunate victim of this lengthy speaking process for 13 hours. The Chair does not know where to begin to look, but I will look into the matter to see if there has been a breach of somebody's privileges. If necessary I will come back to the House on both points, but I suspect it will not be necessary.