Privilege / Reflections on a Member

Reflections on a Member

Debates pp. 4923-4

Background

Rising on a question of privilege, Mr. Laflamme (Quebec-Montmorency) complained of certain comments made on May 5 by Mr. Jean-Marc Poliquin on CBC newscasts concerning the Quebec Liberal caucus and the current provincial election. He found the news item in which he and several colleagues had been specifically named "unfounded, humiliating and prejudicial". He believed that it involved privilege because "any infringement of secrecy [of caucus meetings] reflects upon every Member"; the national network and the press "do not have the right to allow rumours . . . to be commented upon without giving in detail their sources of information"; and "it is cowardly and unworthy of a public service to broadcast such trash and attribute statements to any Members of this House without checking whether they are authentic". The Speaker ruled immediately.

Issue

In this case, can a Member claim a breach of privilege on account of comments made by a news reporter several days before?

Decision

There is not a question of privilege.

Reasons given by the Speaker

In order to constitute a breach of privilege, the libel must be based on matters arising from the actual transaction of the business of the House. Since this is not the case in this situation, privilege cannot be invoked. In addition, the matter was not raised at the earliest opportunity.

Sources cited

Beauchesne, 4th ed., pp. 95-6, c. 104(5); p. 98, c. 108.