OTTAWA — Speaker Peter Milliken killed a motion Thursday aimed at changing the MPs’ code of conduct so members couldn’t be silenced by libel suits.
Mr. Milliken ruled that the House couldn’t vote on the motion because it was produced by the ethics committee, which does not have jurisdiction over the code of conduct.
Opposition MPs pushed the motion through the ethics committee because a Conservative filibuster has paralyzed the procedure and house affairs committee for months.
The issue arose last week when ethics commissioner Mary Dawson ruled that West Nova MP Robert Thibault was in a conflict of interest when he grilled Brian Mulroney during the former prime minister’s appearance before the ethics committee. Ms. Dawson ruled that Mr. Thibault had a "private interest" in the case because Mr. Mulroney had launched a libel suit against him for comments he made in October on CTV’s Mike Duffy Live.
As a result of Ms. Dawson’s ruling, Mr. Thibault is forbidden from raising questions about the Mulroney-Schreiber affair in the House or on parliamentary committees.
The Tories oppose changing the code of conduct, but all three opposition parties fear that if the code isn’t changed, the mere threat of a lawsuit could silence an MP.
