Mr. Speaker, my colleague has brought up an interesting point. It seems that following her ruling, Ms. Dawson realized that not only had she opened up a door but that she had seriously breached an entire wall. She realized this herself, as I discovered when I read page 24 of her report.
This could lead to SLAPP suits—an old legal tactic used to silence opponents by prosecuting them, with or without just cause. So aware was she of this possibility that on page 24 of her report she wrote:
Concerns have been raised about the use of lawsuits, more particularly libel suits, to prevent a Member from performing his or her duties in the House of Commons. I cannot predict whether this may indeed become a problem and I hope it does not.
She hopes that it will not come to that. She continues:
Should this become a serious concern for Members, however, the Code could be adjusted to except libel suits from the ambit of “private interest”—
She has therefore recognized that there is a problem and that the code should be amended before the situation deteriorates. To avoid any need to amend or adjust the code, she could simply have refused to accept the Conservative Party's claim.