Parliamentary Privilege / Rights of the House

The House of Commons and officials: alleged interference with Members’ duties by an official of Federal Business Development Bank withholding documents

December 19, 1989

Debates, pp. 7202-3

On November 3, 1989, the Hon. Robert Kaplan (York Centre), after obtaining the unanimous consent of the House to waive the usual one hour’s notice provision, rose on a question of privilege to complain of the actions of an official of the Federal Business Development Bank, who withheld certain documents from him despite a prior commitment by the Bank to provide the material. Mr. Don Boudria (Glengarry—Prescott—Russell) also spoke to the issue.^[1] Their remarks are summarized in the Speaker’s decision of December 19, 1989 which is reproduced in extenso below.

Decision of the Chair

The Speaker: On Friday, November 3, the honourable Member from York Centre sought to obtain the unanimous consent of the House in order to raise a question of privilege at the outset of the sitting without having submitted written notice.

The substance of the question had to do with what the honourable Member for York Centre characterized as the deliberate interference by an official of the Federal Business Development Bank with the delivery of documents which the bank had agreed to provide. He indicated that he wanted these documents in order to turn them over to the RCMP. In anticipation of their receipt, he had arranged a meeting with RCMP people in his office on the Thursday afternoon. As it happened, the documents were not turned over to the honourable Member for this meeting.

The honourable Member from Glengarry—Prescott—Russell supported the question of privilege and explained that the material requested from the bank was in the public domain, as these documents had already been given to The Montreal Gazette. He went on to state that the failure of the bank to deliver the documents in the time previously arranged prevented the honourable Member from York Centre from turning them over to the RCMP. Both Members asserted that the decision to withhold the documents by an Ottawa official of the bank interfered with the rights and obligations of that Member to fulfil his responsibilities as a Member of Parliament.

At the same time, however, the honourable Member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell explained that the Federal Business Development Bank subsequently agreed to release the documents.

It would therefore appear that the question of privilege relates to a delay in the delivery of documents to the honourable Member for York Centre which prevented him from keeping his appointment with the RCMP as originally planned. While the Member may have been inconvenienced, it is difficult for the Chair to be convinced that this constitutes a question of privilege.

While there was a delay, it does not seem to be clear that the honourable member was hindered in the performance of his duties. Inconvenienced perhaps, but not interfered with.

I might also add that even though it was claimed that the documents were in the public domain, it appears to me that, in fact, these documents remained the property of the bank. If by virtue of an internal decision or mix-up, and I do not want to suggest motives, the documents were not delivered when the Member from York Centre had expected them, it seems to me that it is a matter to be resolved between the Member and the bank.

As it happens, the bank has agreed to release the documents and that agreement was evidently made before this question of privilege was raised here. The matter, therefore, would appear to be resolved.

I thank the honourable Member for bringing the matter to the attention of the House.

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1989-12-19