Mr. Speaker, I would like to add a comment before responding to my colleague. The witness admitted in committee that he had lied to the journalists when he told the story. Believing a liar, in my mind, is not exactly a win.
The Liberal government seems to have this kind of self-defence deeply rooted in its DNA. We only have to look at how many times the Ethics Commissioner has levelled allegations or issued verdicts against this government. Questioning the integrity of someone like the Prime Minister, for example, is bad enough. Now we are constantly questioning the integrity of ministers of the Crown, when something like that should only happen on rare occasions. It shocks me. As an ethicist, downplaying these kinds of things is not an option. I think it is habit in part, perhaps as a result of being in power for so long, but it is also a kind of entitlement, and that is unacceptable.