Senator Tannas: Your Honour, there are just a few points I wanted to mention as you take this under advisement.

With respect to the timing of this issue, it is the old chestnut of every single question of privilege — that it was not done on time. Frankly, the committee meeting where the witness said they felt intimidated was held on Wednesday evening. In order to present the question of privilege by Thursday, it had to be in by 11 a.m. As Senator Housakos pointed out, there were more documents to come in support of this issue and those did not arrive in time for 11 a.m.

In addition, we did have some time over the weekend and Monday to talk directly to the witness. I think in an investigation that would come, if Your Honour were to so decide to begin one, it would begin by the appropriate committee bringing in witnesses under oath to get to the bottom of it. We could get to the bottom of it without having to have a journalist in. We could ask others the following: Did you send the letter to the journalist? Who sent the letter to the journalist? When did you send the letter to the journalist? All of those things could come out that would actually help those who want to make a recommendation back to us here as to what really happened.

The job today, as I understood it, was to highlight something that might or could have happened. A number of the folks who spoke against Your Honour considering in the affirmative said, “Well, this may have happened” and “This could have happened.” Yes, that’s right. That’s the point of this particular exercise that we are going through right now.

This is a serious matter. This is a matter that we all know will grow and fester if we leave it unchecked. We need to deal with it. Your Honour, I know you will give it the consideration that it deserves. Thank you.