Privilege / Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

Journals pp. 927-8

Debates pp. 9665-6

Background

When the House met, Mr. Nielsen (Yukon) rose on a question of privilege and stated that the statements made by Mr. Sharp (Secretary of State for External Affairs) and by Mr. Gray (Minister of National Revenue) on possible government policy concerning foreign ownership were contradictory and inconsistent. As a result of this and because the Government refused to table documents cited in those statements, he proposed that the entire matter should be referred to the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections. These disputed statements, as Mr. Nielsen acknowledged, had been made inside and outside the House; nonetheless, he claimed that both were within the jurisdiction of privilege because such privileges as Members have "are exercised in trust in the right of the public ... The right of this House to be informed in this Chamber on a matter of public business, is the right of the citizen to be informed, whether the citizen is informed in this House or outside it." The issue had already been raised as a question of privilege some days earlier, when the Speaker had found that what was involved was more a matter of debate than of privilege. After hearing comments from the Member, the Speaker ruled.

Issue

Do conflicting or contradictory statements of Ministers made inside and outside the House constitute a prima facie case of privilege?

Decision

This is not a prima facie case of privilege.

Reasons given by the Speaker

The complaint of the Member is "essentially the same as the one proposed the day before yesterday". This may be an attempt to appeal a decision of the Chair, which cannot be done. The Chair believes that it "cannot alter, change, amend or reverse a ruling made on a similar set of circumstances, and that the matter cannot be referred to a committee or put to the House at this time as there is no prima facie case of privilege."

Sources cited

Journals, November 16, 1971, p. 923.

Debates, June 5, 1964, p. 3971; November 16, 1971, p. 9619.