In a moment, I am going to call upon the hon. member for Langley—Aldergrove from whom I have notice of a question of privilege, however, first I want to refer to my ruling of last week, on March 20, when I said the following:
As I already noted, the Chair is concerned that this question of privilege was not brought up at the earliest opportunity. Members know that in determining a question of privilege prima facie, the Speaker must consider whether the two requisite conditions have been met; that is, whether the matter was raised at the earliest opportunity and whether, in the Speaker's view, it constitutes, at first view, a breach of a parliamentary privilege.
With respect to timeliness, House of Commons Procedure and Practice, third edition, states at page 145:
...the Member must satisfy the Speaker that he or she is bringing the matter to the attention of the House as soon as practicable after becoming aware of the situation. When a Member has not fulfilled this important requirement, the Speaker has ruled that the matter is not a prima facie question of privilege.”
I went on to say:
...This is cause for concern for the Chair, particularly as the member did not provide an explanation as to why the condition of timeliness was not satisfied. While I am prepared to be flexible on this point this time and not dismiss his question of privilege for this reason alone, it is a condition that must be taken into account in assessing the alleged question of privilege.
Therefore, I would ask the member to have regard to that in his comments.
The hon. member for Langley—Aldergrove.