I am now prepared to rule on the question of privilege raised by the hon. member for Calgary Southeast on February 23, 2004, concerning a document tabled by the hon. President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board.
I thank the hon. member for Calgary Southeast for having raised this matter as well as the President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board for his comments. At issue was the question of whether the President of the Treasury Board misled the House by claiming that a document he had tabled supported his contention that a grant had been made to a firm in the riding of the hon. member for Calgary Southeast.
The House may find it helpful if I first summarize the background of the question before us. On Wednesday, February 18, 2004, in response to a question concerning the sponsorship program posed by the hon. member for Calgary Southeast, the President of the Treasury Board cited a document which he claimed showed that a grant from the program had been received by the hon. member.
Following question period, the hon. member for Calgary Southeast roseon a point of order and stated that he had not received any such grant and requested that the President of the Treasury Board retract the inaccurate remark.
The President of the Treasury Board then stated that the grant had in fact been made to an organization located in the riding of the hon. member for Calgary Southeast. Following a further request from the hon. member for Calgary Southeast, the President of the Treasury Board tabled the document he had cited concerning the awarding of the grant.
After examining the document tabled by the President of the Treasury Board, the hon. member for Calgary Southeast raised a question of privilege on February 23, 2004. The hon. member for Calgary Southeast stated that a document tabled by the President of the Treasury Board had shown that the reply given to an oral question was false. He therefore accused the President of the Treasury Board of deliberately misleading the House.
The President of the Treasury Board, in replying to the charge against him, maintained that the document in fact supported his position and that an organization in the hon. member's riding had received grants under the sponsorship program over a number of years.
There is clearly a disagreement about how the contents of the document tabled by the President of the Treasury Board are to be interpreted. As hon. members know, it is not the Speaker's role to adjudicate on matters of fact. This is something on which the House itself can form an opinion during debate.
Hon. members will know that a number of questions of this nature have been ruled on by the Chair in recent weeks. It is of course my duty to give members the opportunity to bring forward any suspected violations of our rules and practices through the raising of points of order or questions of privilege, but I am also concerned that the raising of such questions should not become a means to debate what the rules of the House ought to be.
If members are dissatisfied with the rules, they have a variety of means at their disposal to address these issues. Without interfering with the right of hon. members to signal a suspected breach of the rules, I also have a duty to see that the proceedings are not delayed or interrupted unnecessarily. Members will therefore understand that I may, on some occasions, render prompt and succinct decisions in cases of disputes as to facts such as this one, when it is clear to me that no violation of our rules or practices has in fact occurred.