Local MP dismisses contempt finding The Conservative minority government has been found in contempt of Parliament by a House of Commons committee for failing to share information and spending estimates that MPs said they needed to do their jobs.
"This is further evidence that the coalition is forcing an election," Langley Conservative MP Mark Warawa said by phone from Ottawa. "They forced this into a committee."
The Standing Committee on Procedure and House affairs report released on March 21 said the Harper government did not have a "reasonable excuse" for not producing specific documents when ordered to do so by the Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) and the House of Commons.
Contempt of Parliament is a rare occurance and can force a non-confidence vote that could result in a federal election. Typically contempt is ruled against MPs or bureaucrats.
Conservative MPs downplayed the report in a dissenting response and said that "Opposition MP's had pre-judged the outcome of the hearings before they had even begun."
The multi-party committee made of six Conservatives, three Liberals, two Bloc Quebecois and one NDP MP met following the Speaker of the House Peter Milliken's ruling earlier this month.
He noted the "unsettling" lack of response by the government to FINA's and the House's requests for information.
FINA requested cost estimates on the F-35 jets, the hosting of the G-8 and G-20 summits, and adjustments cost estimates to criminal code, justice and corrections bills as well as treasury costs from planned reduction of corporate tax rates.
"It's not about getting more information. It's about raising an issue that's not genuine," Warawa said.
The government repeatedly ignored requests from FINA citing "Cabinet confidence" privileges.
"We've done everything we can to provide information. The costs for F-35's - we provided it," he said.
The FINA report noted the Speaker's view that the documents provided by the government did not constitute all of the information ordered by the finance committee.
The Speaker said that the government's withholding of specific details was a serious matter that went to the heart of the House's role in holding the government accountable.
In the report House of Commons law clerk and Parliamentary counsel Robert Walsh argued that Parliament had the right to request the information but government may decide to refuse.
That the Harper government refused the requests for information without reasonable excuse and failed to produce relevant documents were reasons cited for ruling in contempt of Parliament.
The report concluded that the government's failure to produce the documents impeded the House in the performance of its functions.
But Warawa said the report was "a fabrication to cause an election."
"I see it as an abuse of Parliament," he said.
A federal committee chastises the Tories.