Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that all questions of privilege raised and brought before the House, we take very seriously.
With regard to the two members that the member referenced, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Natural Resources, I will have to return to provide further comment on the Minister of Natural Resources at a later time, but with regard to the Minister of Health, I have a few thoughts that I would like to share.
I listened very carefully to the member's intervention and I am confident that this is a matter of debate and does not constitute a prima facie breach of privilege. The member is arguing that the minister deliberately misled the House in response to Order Paper question 152. As members of the House know, responses to the Order Paper questions are not to be used as opportunity for debate.
Page 522 of O'Brien and Bosc states:
...no argument or opinion is to be given and only the information needed to respond to the question is to be provided in an effort to maintain the process of written questions as an exchange of information rather than an opportunity for debate.
I submit this is precisely what the member is attempting to do.
The government tabled its response to Order Paper question 152 on June 14, 2016, within the prescribed time provided for it in the rules. The response to the question reflected the question asked and contained the information requested. It is a well-established fact that the Speaker is not authorized to judge the content or quality of answers provided in the House, including responses in Order Paper questions.
Speaker Jeanne Sauvé, in her February 28, 1983 ruling, stated that it is not the Chair's responsibility “to determine whether or not the contents of documents tabled in the House are accurate''. This sentiment was again echoed in Speaker Milliken's ruling on December 12, 2002, when he stated, “the Speaker has no role in reviewing the content of responses to written questions”.
The minister has publicly stated that she followed all proper procedures to determine the appropriate answer. This answer was then tabled in response to the Order Paper question. She has even stated that in the future she will endeavour to disclose additional information, should that aid in providing more clarity.
I believe the member is trying to conflate two issues. The member referred to comments the minister made outside of the House, including an apology regarding her expenses, as evidence that the minister has misled Parliament. However, we must be clear that the comments made were in relation to her travel expenses. It did not speak to the response to the Order Paper question. The minister's comment regarding her travel expenses and the content of the Order Paper response are two separate issues. While the Minister has addressed her expenses related to travel, we cannot confuse that with the accuracy of the response tabled.
Furthermore, a disagreement over the content of a response is merely that, a disagreement over the facts, and not a question of privilege. Speaker Fraser, in his May 15, 1991 ruling, stated:
The difficulty that is always with the Chair in these cases is that there are often very great differences of interpretation on the answers given. It is not a question of privilege; it is a question of disagreement over certain facts and answers that were given.
This is precisely what we have before us today. I submit that this is not a question of privilege, but a dispute over the facts.