Jason Kenney did not breach privilege with munitions mistake: Speaker

Defence Minister Jason Kenney did not breach privilege when he erroneously told the House of Commons that Canada was the only country besides the U.S. with precision-guided munitions, Speaker Andrew Scheer has ruled.

NDP Defence Critic Jack Harris requested the ruling by Scheer on April 2, after Kenney made the statement to several media outlets at the end of March that Canada was needed in the fight against ISIS in Syria because it was the only country other than the U.S. that has the specialized weapons.

However, that was not the case and Harris argued the mistake constituted an “extremely serious” breach of privilege that misled Canadians about the nature of Canada’s mission in Syria.

In fact, every state currently involved in the bombing campaigns against ISIS in both Syria and Iraq use precision-guided munitions, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Combined Joint Task Force.

Kenney has not apologized for the error, saying instead that he regretted the “inaccurate information” and blamed his military briefings for the mistake.

In his ruling, Scheer acknowledged that Kenney was wrong in his initial statements but that there was “no deliberate attempt to falsify or withhold information or mislead the House.”

He also reiterated the criteria laid out in House rules that would allow for a finding of breach of privilege:

– the statements must be misleading

– the member making the statement must know the statement was wrong when they made it, and

– the member must have intended to mislead the House by making the statement.

Ultimately, Scheer ruled that Kenney had not intentionally made incorrect statements with the goal of misleading the House but rather that he madea statement he believed at the time to be correct but which was later proven incorrect.

Harris said he is “disappointed” by the ruling but said it was well-considered and the NDP will accept it.

However, he says it raises questions about the competency of the military members who passed on that information to Kenney – namely, that there was a significant difference in what Canada could offer compared to the weapons already being used by coalition forces bombing Syria.

“What’s curious in this was the finding that the military didn’t know the difference,” he said. “That’s clearly a failure of the military.”

Harris said he wants more information on how Kenney received the wrong information from military leaders and that they will continue calling for Gen. Tom Lawson, Canada’s chief of defence staff, to appear before the defence committee.

“This was clearly front and centre of their rationale for moving into Syria,” he said.

“There has to be some explanation.”

Scheer noted that Kenney is scheduled to appear before the House defence committee shortly and said he hopes MPs will take the opportunity to question him at the committee about the matter if they have any other questions.

However, the clerk for the committee says Kenney is not currently scheduled to appear before MPs there.

Kenney’s press secretary, Lauren Armstrong, says they hope to have him appear before the end of May.

Original Article
Source: ipolitics.ca/
Author: Amanda Connolly