Point of order, Mr. Chair. I will just quote from our procedural text, Beauchesne's Parliamentary Rules and Forms, 6th edition. A question of privilege. This is 26(2).
A question of privilege, on the other hand, is a question partly of fact and partially of law, the law of contempt of Parliament, and it is a matter for the House to determine. The decision of the House on a question of privilege, like every other matter which the House has to decide, can only be elicited by a question put from the Chair by the Speaker, and resolved either in the affirmative or the negative, and the question is necessarily founded on a motion made by a Member.
Further, part 3, the Speaker can rule on a question of order. The Speaker cannot rule on a question of privilege. If the question of privilege is raised, the Speaker's function is limited to deciding whether the matter is of such a character as to entitle the motion which the Member has raised, the question desires to move over the priority of the orders of the day.
In the case of committees, and I'll quote again from section 107, which is the extension of privilege to committees, it says, "Breaches of privilege in committee may be dealt with only by the House itself on report from the committee. Thus, should a point of privilege be raised, the appropriate course would be to refer it to the Speaker when the Chair of Committee of the Whole reports back to the House, and that the Speaker determine whether or not the point of privilege entitles the Member to raise a motion."
So, as pointed out, the precedent here is that the whole House must decide matters of privilege, as privilege is an inherent component of each individual Member who is elected to this House to exercise, and the House collectively, but only the House collectively, can exercise and determine questions of privilege. Therefore, it would be inappropriate for the Chair of a Committee or even the Speaker to exercise the final determination of privilege, and this matter should be reported to the House proper and the Speaker make a prima facie ruling on whether or not the Member who has raised this point should be allowed to raise it forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.