Mr. Speaker, although the question of privilege I am about to raise happened at committee, I raise it with you because I believe the actions of government members have severely affected my ability to do my job as a member of Parliament in this place by, in effect, limiting who may be willing, and I emphasize the word “willing”, to come forward to committees as witnesses. I will explain why the emphasis is on the word “willing”.
As a member of this place for almost 20 years, I saw what occurred yesterday at the Standing Committee on International Trade as a shameful display of a direct attempt to smear, through implication and innuendo, a witness asked to testify at that committee.
During the course of the meeting, five witnesses testified. As his opening line of questioning, the member for Kelowna—Lake Country, who is a privy councillor, asked only one witness, Professor Gus Van Harten, who is affiliated with the Osgoode Hall Law School, to name his political affiliations and donations to political parties.
I specifically note that the suggestion to the committee that it hear from this witness in relation to its study of a Canada–India trade agreement was submitted to the committee, according to the clerk of the committee, by me as Liberal international trade critic and also by the member for Vancouver Kingsway. In other words, this witness was suggested by members of opposition parties.
I raise this matter in the House for the simple reason that the conduct of government members yesterday could well impede my ability as a member of Parliament in having witnesses I propose willing to appear before any committee of this place. After reading the proceedings of yesterday's Conservative inquisition, prospective witnesses I or any other member of any opposition party propose to any committee could well reconsider appearing before a committee because they may be subject to such a disgraceful interrogation on issues that have nothing whatsoever to do with the issue before any committee. This, I would submit, is nothing more than an effort at intimidation of prospective witnesses.
Do we now need to warn witnesses whom opposition members invite to committee and who expect to testify on specific issues that they could be subject to an inquisition by Conservative members related to their personal lives, related to their political affiliations or related to their religious beliefs? That is most certainly what happened yesterday and where we may be going. It was apparent in the line of questioning by the member for Kelowna—Lake Country that a substantial amount of research on Mr. Van Harten had been done by the government in preparation for the meeting yesterday.
This is from the blues of that meeting. The member for Kelowna—Lake Country said:
Now I just have a list of about eleven times in the last couple of years you've donated to the NDP.
Someone went to a lot of trouble to research Mr. Van Harten. Whether it was the member for Kelowna—Lake Country is irrelevant. It certainly was a government investigation. I note as well that neither the member for Kelowna—Lake Country nor any other Conservative member of the committee asked any other witnesses appearing before the committee that same kind of question.
I now draw the Speaker's attention to the following reference found on page 1,068 of O'Brien and Bosc, House of Commons Procedure and Practice, second edition, 2009. It states:
There are no specific rules governing the nature of questions which may be put to witnesses appearing before committees, beyond the general requirement of relevance to the issue before the committee.
The issue before the committee was that of examining a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, or CEPA, with India. Mr. Van Harten was asked to appear on this issue in relation to the ongoing matter of a foreign investment agreement that is currently under negotiation with India.
The question posed by the member for Kelowna—Lake Country had nothing whatsoever to do with the issue before the committee. It was done for the purpose of attempting to discredit the testimony of the witness, to impugn the testimony of the witness, to place on the record an innuendo that somehow the political affiliation of the witness taints the testimony he provides. The nature of the question, which remains on the permanent public record, was done with the purpose of maligning the witness.
Mr. Speaker, I would hope you will at the very least consider my point of privilege and give some thought to how you could use your good offices to ensure the kind of disgraceful and maligning interrogation of a witness invited to present before a committee of this House never occurs again.
Simply put, what happened at committee smacks of McCarthyism. If I am to ask witnesses to come, do I have to tell them that their lives, their political affiliations and their families are going to be investigated by the Conservative research department and they may be attacked by the Conservative attack machine at committee?
That is where this goes. I raised the question myself with another witness, and said I raised it in jest: who did they contribute to?
Mr. Speaker, I raise this point with you today because I think if you look at the records of the committee yesterday, you are going to see a terrible deterioration in terms of how committees operate and in terms of how questions are asked of witnesses. I think that kind of research into their lives and that interrogation will even jeopardize some witnesses from coming before committees.
If it is at the ethics committee and it is related to a political situation, fine, but this happened at a committee in which we were discussing Canada-India trade. I think it is wrong and I just ask you, Mr. Speaker, to use your good offices to look at this and come up with at least some suggestions so that this does not happen again. I think it is unfair, and it jeopardizes the availability of certain witnesses we may want to invite before committee. It is plainly wrong.