The special committee does not have the authority to finally determine the issues, only to recommend courses of action based on its consideration of the facts and issues. The Legislative Assembly must ultimately resolve the matter.

The matter would be available for debate in that forum in accordance with the procedures of the House in considering reports of standing and special committees.

Throughout the process, the special committee was vigilant to ensure that whatever approaches were taken or instructions given that all parties were afforded a fair opportunity to be fully heard.

The special committee had the power and authority to:

• • compel the attendance of witnesses;
• • to require the production of records and documents;
• • to hear submissions and evidence and to consider such facts as it considered necessary;
• • to conduct itself in the manner that it considers appropriate to the nature of the issues under review;
• • to make recommendations to the Legislative Assembly as to the course of action or options available as a result of hearing from interested persons.

While the special committee is clothed with parliamentary privilege and thus is the complete master of its own procedure, even to an extent larger than administrative tribunals in the normal course, it has been mindful of certain advisable standards to be adopted in considering the issues, Mr. Speaker.

The Legislative Assembly has complete authority to govern the conduct of its Members and statutory officers. In doing so, a public trust has been placed in the Assembly as a whole that it will do so with a view to protecting that public trust by ensuring both the integrity of its processes and the actions of Members and statutory officers. Because the office and duties of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner in and of itself deals with issues of integrity and the conduct of Members, the committee wished to take care not to improperly interfere with the statutory obligations imposed on the Conflict of Interest Commissioner and to be cognizant of and respect its necessary independence. Balanced against this is the duty of all statutory officers of the House to conduct themselves according to certain standards.

The special committee has attempted to deal with these issues on the basis of the following general principles:

• • ensuring a fair opportunity for interested persons to be fully heard. This opportunity must, in the circumstances, be extended equally and fully to the Minister and the Commissioner. The Commissioner is of the view that the complainant, Mr. Rowe, is an interested person and should be heard from as a party in these proceedings;
• • it must be aware of the roles and obligations of the Minister and the Commissioner as contemplated in the act which governs their respective duties;
• • it must be mindful of the public interest associated with not only this process but in the issue of governing the conduct of Members and statutory officers generally;
• • it must make any recommendations only on the basis of the facts and issues placed before it and not on the basis of other facts or issues, which are not before it in connection with this process.

Mr. Speaker, a number of these concepts or obligations have various different parts, which are elaborated below. However, the fundamental principle is that of fairness, and common sense is often the best guide to what is or is not fair to all of the interested parties.