Is it possible that another parliamentary privilege showdown could be on the horizon?
Her Majesty’s Government for Canada appears to have created a new policy dictating that no staff of the Government may appear before a parliamentary committee; the only members of Government to answer questions are to be ministers. This comes just after the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics exercised its rarely-used power to summon a staffer to appear before its members.
What ‘parliamentary privilege’ are we talking about here?
The House of Commons has the power to compel witnesses to appear before the House, should members need information from those witnesses. When someone is summoned to the House, they are required to appear, else they may be held in contempt of the Parliament of Canada (which can result in various penalties). As committees are subsidiary bodies of the House, its powers are also delegated to these smaller bodies. This is a power that has been largely ignored for several years, with most witnesses volunteering to appear.
This all comes after the committee discovered that Mr. Sebastien Tognieri, an employee of Public Works and Government Services Canada, had ordered documents that had been released under the Access to Information Act to be retracted. The committee then summoned Mr. Dmitri Soudas, an aide to The Right Honourable Stephen Harper P.C., M.P. (Calgary Southwest), the Prime Minister of Canada, who it seems may now refuse to appear.
Has the power to summon been used before?
The committees of the House last used this power in the spotlight when the current prime minister (then the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition) gathered enough opposition party votes to summon staffers for the previous Government to appear before a committee to discuss allegations related to the sponsorship program and advertising activities. All persons who had been summoned complied with the committee’s order.
Her Majesty’s Government for Canada appears to have created a new policy dictating that no staff of the Government may appear before a parliamentary committee; the only members of Government to answer questions are to be ministers. This comes just after the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics exercised its rarely-used power to summon a staffer to appear before its members.
What ‘parliamentary privilege’ are we talking about here?
The House of Commons has the power to compel witnesses to appear before the House, should members need information from those witnesses. When someone is summoned to the House, they are required to appear, else they may be held in contempt of the Parliament of Canada (which can result in various penalties). As committees are subsidiary bodies of the House, its powers are also delegated to these smaller bodies. This is a power that has been largely ignored for several years, with most witnesses volunteering to appear.
This all comes after the committee discovered that Mr. Sebastien Tognieri, an employee of Public Works and Government Services Canada, had ordered documents that had been released under the Access to Information Act to be retracted. The committee then summoned Mr. Dmitri Soudas, an aide to The Right Honourable Stephen Harper P.C., M.P. (Calgary Southwest), the Prime Minister of Canada, who it seems may now refuse to appear.
Has the power to summon been used before?
The committees of the House last used this power in the spotlight when the current prime minister (then the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition) gathered enough opposition party votes to summon staffers for the previous Government to appear before a committee to discuss allegations related to the sponsorship program and advertising activities. All persons who had been summoned complied with the committee’s order.