Procedure and House Affairs committee  In the past, police power was often used against the mob. There were many occasions when the state regarded the citizens as the enemy. This is more clear in continental jurisprudence than it is in our British tradition. The ultimate law is the safety of the state. That's an old l

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would be astonished if the members of Anonymous would have read that legislation without the attention paid to the original comment by the minister. I confess that I have not read the legislation and I have no opinion about it, but I do ultimately trust Parliament and the court

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I did look at the legislation. I must confess that I have not memorized it, but I took a great interest in it. I felt that it was a pretty decent piece of legislation, save for that question of when must the government go to the courts for a warrant to intrude into the privacy of

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You don't want to get into the double jeopardy issue. If you want to avoid that, then you as a committee can determine that a possible criminal or civil offence has occurred and you can recommend that the House refer the matter to the appropriate authorities, which would be the p

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, it is. On the other hand, if you went back into the history of the Canadian Parliament and the relationships between members of Parliament and the greater public, I wonder if you wouldn't find that threats like this have been a constant at public meetings and in the newspape

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Many citizens are often threatened, and the threats can be for serious damage. It's a fact of life. I think that it's reprehensible when a public official, doing what he feels is his duty, is threatened for doing it. I'm glad the committee is looking at it. I'm not sure if I'm a

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Parliament is a court. We are now in the “High Court of Parliament”. I tried to give an answer there. On sanctions, if you find that there is a serious breach of privilege of the member and that something needs to be done about it, the sole remedy available to Parliament, as I u

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's for the committee to decide. As I said, I've had limited opportunities to see the videos and other things. If this committee feels there is a threat involved and that it's a serious one, rather than being offensive—and I would hope that both sides of the House and both s

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I can plead two things there. One is ignorance: I didn't realize the video was available. I'm not very good at dealing with the Internet. That's a failure on my part, for which I apologize. The second reason is that I was before another parliamentary committee yesterday. I try t

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I did not try to suggest that, sir.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I make no apologies for that. I have done the best that I could. I have no research resources available to me, and what I tried to deal with—I make no apologies for this—is not to give an answer to this committee that I believe there was a threat here or I don't believe there was

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. Parliament is free to choose what it wants to do. If you find a breach of privilege, I believe that the House can refer the matter to the civil authorities and that they can pursue it from then on. A court looking at it could take note of the proceedings of Parliament, and

Procedure and House Affairs committee  A committee is free to report whatever it wants, as long as it's in parliamentary language and relevant to the topic. That's certainly both in parliamentary language and relevant to the topic, so the answer is yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, because I have only a limited access to the information available. I have not looked at what happened at this committee before I got here. I don't know the other material that's available, except on the public record—in the newspapers, largely—and I find in civil life that p

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, sir, I did not.