Oral Questions: Member's conflict of interest

The Speaker: I thank the hon. House Leader for the Opposition and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government for their interventions on this matter. I was going to say something on the issue anyway before the issue was raised. I will say it now. Yesterday during Question Period, this matter was alluded to in a question by the hon. Member for Toronto–Danforth. The Government House Leader replied, as indicated in the comments earlier, that the hon. Member had asked the Ethics Commissioner "to look into this matter" and asked for Members to refrain from referring to the case until the work had been completed. Later in Question Period, the Chair reminded Members of section 27(5) of the Ethics Code in Appendix 1 of the Standing Orders that enjoins Members from referring to an inquiry being conducted under that section. I now understand that a request made by an hon. Member to the Ethics Commissioner to clarify his obligations under the Code is mandated under section 26 of the Code, which governs opinions sought from the Commissioner. Accordingly, I wish to clarify that there is no specific rule proscribing Members from raising this matter in the House. However, I urge them to be judicious in their language and the phrasing of any such reference. I remind them that the questions that are asked about this must deal with Government business and Government responsibilities, and not the responsibilities of the hon. Member under the Code. He cannot be questioned on this matter in the House during Question Period because questions must be directed to Ministers and must deal with matters of ministerial Government responsibility. I know that all hon. Members would want to avoid a situation where, in the heat of the moment, they would find themselves contravening Standing Order 18 which specifically prohibits the use of offensive words and I quote: —against either House, or against any Member thereof. I think that will deal with the matter. We could now move on to Orders of the Day.. [1] Debates, October 19, 2005, p. 8726.