Mr. Speaker, I am rising to respond to the question of privilege raised by the member for Scarborough—Guildwood on December 13, 2010.
The member for Scarborough--Guildwood argued that the Minister of International Cooperation and the parliamentary secretary to the minister deliberately attempted to mislead the House with respect to statements related to a funding proposal for KAIROS.
Page 13 of the 2nd edition of Parliamentary Privilege in Canada provides a practical definition of a breach of privilege. It states:
If someone improperly interferes with the parliamentary work of a Member of Parliament--i.e. any of the Member's activities that have a connection with a proceeding in Parliament--in such a case that is a matter involving parliamentary privilege. An offence against the authority of the House constitutes contempt.
I believe the matter that the member for Scarborough--Guildwood has brought to the House is not an issue of privilege but rather a debate as to the facts, which should be seen as a matter of debate.
As the member for Kootenay—Columbia, who was the former parliamentary secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation, stated on December 13, 2010, in responding to the matter of privilege raised by the member for Scarborough--Guildwood:
If I may, Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw to your attention that at no time in the member's presentation did he make any assertion that the minister made any misleading statements.
The member for Kootenay--Columbia then corrected the record with respect to comments he made in the House and he apologized to the House. In his intervention the member for Scarborough--Guildwood stated that the Minister of International Cooperation and the parliamentary secretary said that KAIROS did not meet CIDA's recommended funding priorities. In support of that statement he referred to a response by the minister to an oral question of October 28, 2010, that: “After due diligence, it was determined that KAIROS' proposal did not meet government standards”.
The standards referred to in the minister's response are the government's standards, that is, cabinet standards, not CIDA's standards. The memorandum referred to reflects CIDA's advice to the government and the government is free to accept or reject the advice of the public service. This is a fundamental principle of a cabinet system of government. The public service recommends and ministers decide.
Decisions taken by the government are subject to debate in the House, which I believe is the thrust of the matter before the House. The member for Scarborough--Guildwood then turned to testimony made on December 9, 2010, before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.
The proceedings of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development are matters for the committee to consider. This matter has not been reported to the House and as a result the House may not consider issues that have not been presented to it by a committee. This is supported by a December 7, 2006, Speaker's ruling, which states:
I have carefully reviewed the exchanges on this matter. In his answers during oral questions and in his responses when the present question of privilege was raised, the minister has consistently denied interfering with the potential witnesses in any way. As Speaker, I accept that. In the present case, it is clear that the member for Malpeque and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food disagree about the significance of the answers provided by the minister during oral questions. In the circumstances, in the view of the Chair, that is a topic properly dealt with as a matter of debate or during exchanges during oral questions. With regard to concerns about the actual appearance of the witnesses before the agriculture and agri-food committee, it will be up to the committee to examine such concerns in due course and take the action it judges appropriate. At the present time, based on the arguments presented, the Chair hesitates to intervene in the matter.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the Speaker's ruling of December 7, 2006, applies to the case currently before the House. The minister has stated in a response to the oral questions in the House that the proposal for KAIROS did not meet government priorities. Consequently, the issue around funding decisions for organizations by the government are matters for debate in the House.
At no time did the Minister of International Cooperation mislead the House. In fact, the minister was stating the government's position on the matter. Opposition parties are free to disagree with the government's decisions. Disagreements do not constitute matters of contempt.
Madam Speaker, I therefore submit that you find that this matter does not constitute a prima facie case of privilege.