Mr. Speaker, I will leave it up to you to look at the exchanges that took place and the comments made by the Minister of Justice and the Prime Minister. It is up to you to determine if their remarks were parliamentary or if they broke any rules.
One thing is clear, and I know that once we are outside the House, we are no longer under your authority, but the minister seems to have forgotten one thing. This did not start with the Chief Justice's press release, but it began earlier with a newspaper article that attributed certain comments to unidentified members from the Conservative benches who seemed to be attacking the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Those comments were then repeated by the Prime Minister and the minister, without specifying a timeline. The chief justice felt it was important to make that correction.
I agree with those who say that this is an unfortunate incident in our Canadian democracy. I know that, every time the minister rises in the House, knowing full well that we are bound by confidentiality, he suggests things. He very nearly gives me the impression that he is relieving me of my duty of confidentiality concerning what might have happened. However, he was not part of the committee, so I do not expect him to know all of the facts about that.
That being said, regardless of what might have happened, perhaps the Chair should restore a sense of order following this incident. Our democracy is held up by a number of pillars, on of which is the Supreme Court of Canada. The separation of powers is extremely important. As lawyers—and I believe my colleague, the Minister of Justice, is a lawyer, just like me—we are required to ensure that we do not tarnish the administration of justice in Canada. Perhaps it is time for everyone to take a deep breath and respect the work we all do, particularly the unimpeachable work of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.