Mr. Speaker, I remember when Stephen Harper was found in contempt of Parliament, the only prime minister ever found in contempt. He was found in contempt over an issue very similar but much more serious, the Afghan detainee documents. Allegations had been made that Canada was involved in turning over what often turned out to be low-value suspects for torture and intimidation, in violation of the Geneva Convention. Stephen Harper ignored Parliament, refused to turn over the documents and then prorogued Parliament and shut down the democratic process.
In this case, which is about turning over documents, the Speaker ruled that this matter should go to the PROC committee. I trust that members of the committee are going to make a decision about whether the Prime Minister is in contempt. However, to me, the real contempt of the House is that despite a ruling to send this to committee, the member who lives in the 19-room mansion Stornoway has shut down our work as parliamentarians, interfering with our rights and privileges. Meanwhile, the Trump agenda is rolling on, and we are sitting here as a broken democracy.
The role of Parliament is to ship this matter to committee. Members there can make a decision and return it to the House, and then we can decide whether the Prime Minister is in contempt. What is contempt is the refusal of the Conservatives to let us get to our work.