Mr. Speaker, I have listened very carefully, as have the members of the House, to the comments made by the member for Windsor—Tecumseh. I personally have a huge amount of respect for his opinion and the manner in which he has addressed the conundrum that we face.
I am not a lawyer, but to try to put it in a layperson's terms for the people who are watching this, the member relates to lawsuits that would be either a deliberate or an indirect attempt to muzzle a particular member and that this would not be in the interests of the diligence, and the due diligence, that goes through the committee system with respect to a matter.
He balanced that out with respect to the manner in which a member might impugn, in a further way, someone who is before a committee and that the member is a part of the lawsuit.
My colleague comes down more or less in the centre and says that it would be a far greater abuse if we were to deny the member the opportunity to continue having the facts before him or her and to do what the public expects the member to do.
Is there anything further though that could be done to empower either the Speaker or the committee chair to closely observe the proceedings and to maintain that balance? Is there anything more that is necessary in terms of the Standing Orders to empower the committee chair?
Is there any training that should be brought into the whole committee system through the chair to make those proceedings quasi-judicial in nature when it comes to these kinds of legal conundrums? After all, it is every person's right to have due process also in natural justice, and that could be denied. I am sure this is a further principle with the member would agree.
Would the member care to expand a little on the nature of the proceedings and how the chair could be more emphatic with respect to maintaining that balance?