I am prepared to rule on the matter and deal with it at once.
The hon. member for Yorkton--Melville has raised a point about the motion. I stress that I have already ruled this motion to be one that is properly before the House. There were points of order raised when it was brought to the House originally and I ruled the motion in order then, so I am surprised to hear further argument on this point at this moment, but I will seek to answer his questions.
First, with respect to Australian practice, the hon. member will know that the Australian parliament has chosen to codify its law in relation to privilege. Accordingly, precedents that come from that jurisdiction are ones that would be possibly at variance with our own practice since we have never codified our rules in respect of privilege. It is a matter of the common law and the constitutional law of our country and has not been codified into an act of Parliament. That act of parliament in Australia colours any rulings that might be made in respect of privilege in that country, and particularly in that parliamentary jurisdiction, since any Speaker making a ruling on the issue would have to follow the statute and comply in every respect with the law, as would all hon. members of the legislature. So I do not regard the precedent that he has quoted as particularly helpful in this case.
Second, I would say that it is not the government that is determining whether or not our privilege is waived. It is the House that will make that determination. If this motion is defeated, then there will be no waiver of privilege. If the motion is accepted, it is accepted by the House and becomes then binding on the House, because the House has accepted it and has chosen to waive its privileges.
Third, with respect to any description of the privileges that are being waived, if the hon. member has concerns about those, he is free to move amendments to this motion and clarify the matter, but it is not for the Chair to specify what the House message to the Senate will be. This will become, if it is adopted, a message to the Senate waiving privilege. What privileges are waived or how they are waived and in what respect they are waived is a matter that is determined by the House when it adopts the motion.
If the hon. member has concerns, he is free to move amendments to the motion at the appropriate time. Perhaps those amendments will be adopted by the House before the message is sent to the Senate and would allay any fears he has that this waiver may be too broad or too wide or allow something to happen that might somehow not be in accordance with the House's wishes.
Accordingly, I think I am safe in leaving this matter in the hands of the hon. member for Yorkton--Melville, stating that if he wishes to move amendments to the motion limiting the privileges being waived or describing them in some particular way, such an amendment might well be admissible, and I would invite him to consult with the officers of the House seated at the table in respect of the drafting of any such amendments.