Declaration of Emergency committee  Whether that means the committee lacks that mandate would be a different question.

Declaration of Emergency committee  My concern would be with being ultra vires the House orders. If the committee goes beyond the House orders, that could be raised in the House.

Declaration of Emergency committee  I'd hesitate to tell the committee how best it will be doing this. I think ultimately the question will be the outcome, what the committee reports on and whether the committee stays within its mandate, whether it has to be done at the front end with terms of reference or whether

Declaration of Emergency committee  I would actually say it not only began; it actually concluded—

Declaration of Emergency committee  —and the House did confirm the declaration.

Declaration of Emergency committee  The Senate did not. I think the Senate interrupted—

Declaration of Emergency committee  That's correct. As a matter of parliamentary privilege, the evidence given before this committee by witnesses is protected and cannot be reviewed in other bodies or in other courts. I think what you perhaps are referring to is the issue of “sub judice” and sometimes the concern

Declaration of Emergency committee  I would say that in looking at Parliament's intention, you'd look at the act and you'd look at whether this is an outcome that Parliament would have wanted. Is this something that leads to a contradiction or something that it seems Parliament wanted to avoid? You'd have to look a

Declaration of Emergency committee  As I said earlier, the act does not prescribe a specific mechanism to be used by the Governor in Council. One possibility would be to use the Inquiries Act, but that's not required under the Emergencies Act.

Declaration of Emergency committee  I think it's not necessarily a question of winning in a sense that it's really who decides. If it's a matter of parliamentary privilege, the houses decide. So, in this instance it's for this committee and ultimately both houses to decide their interpretation of those statutory pr

Declaration of Emergency committee  What I'll say is the Emergencies Act explicitly contemplates the Governor in Council creating a commission, an inquiry to look into these matters. That is certainly Parliament's decision. This committee exists. It is clearly a parliamentary committee composed of parliamentarians

Declaration of Emergency committee  There are definitions and requirements in the act, so I would agree with that.

Declaration of Emergency committee  You're describing a situation of a legal test if it's not met. In the scenario of any piece of legislation, if there is a requirement to be met, and it's not met, then the statute has not been complied with.

Declaration of Emergency committee  There is a difference between the role of this committee, or any committee, and the role of the courts. The courts will be called upon, in appropriate cases, to make those types of interpretations in terms of compliance with statutes and legal consequences. In this instance, the

Declaration of Emergency committee  Yes. That was part of the parliamentary supervision.