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MP Viersen Raises Point of Privilege on Misleading Government Flight Reporting

For immediate release
November 18, 2020

Ottawa, ON – Today, MP Arnold Viersen rose in the House of Commons on a Question of Privilege regarding the Liberal government’s response to his Question on the Order Paper Number Q-97 which was tabled earlier this week on Monday, November 15th.

Question Q-97 asked for details of flights on government aircraft for personal and non-governmental business by the Prime Minister and his family including the names of passengers and the amounts reimbursed to the government by passengers.

MP Viersen highlighted that the government’s response to Q-97 around flights taken by Anna Gainey, then Liberal Party President, don’t match the government’s own flight logs, which have been released through Access to Information.

“It is vital for this House, that information which is tabled in Parliament is accurate. False or misleading information should never be tabled in the House, and especially not in response to formal Questions on the Order Paper.

“I would suggest in this case that the Minister of National Defense and his Parliamentary Secretary who signed the answer, have mislead this House with an answer containing false information.”

In order for the Speaker to find a prima facia question of privilege an admission by someone in authority or an admission of facts that leads naturally to the conclusion that a Member was intentionally misled. If the Speaker finds that there was in fact an attempt to mislead the House, thereby undermining MP Viersen’s right as an MP to accurate information, MP Viersen would move a motion to send the issue to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affair for further review.

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