Mr. Speaker, I really enjoyed listening to the debate tonight and the intervention from the member for Battle River—Crowfoot as well as many thoughtful interventions from many members from all the opposition parties.
There is a simple solution for government members who did not want this privilege debate to happen: They could hand over the documents. It is not as if the government defied one order of the House; there were three consecutive orders that repeated the same demand. In at least one of those cases, Liberal members of the Canada-China committee joined us in making that demand.
Therefore, if the Liberals are frustrated that we are having this conversation tonight, they only have themselves to blame. All they had to do and all they have to do now is say that they will abide by the ruling of the Speaker, that they will recognize the authority of Parliament and that they will hand over the documents in a secure way to the law clerk and parliamentary counsel.
I will implore the government again. None of this has to happen. None of this is what anybody here wanted. We are imposing necessary consequences to defend the rights of Parliament. All the government has to do is hand over the documents and if it refuses to hand over the documents, the real question is, what is it hiding? What is so important to hide that the government brought us to this point?