Last Four Paras: "Noteably absent from Cuzner's response is any mention of the other outstanding privilege matter that will greet the Chamber upon its return, the Order to produce unredacted copies of all those Afghan detainee-related documents, which was passed by the House just before MPs adjourned for what would turn out to be a considerably longer break than expected. Orders of the House survive from session to session within the same parliament, so there's no need to start from scratch with a new motion; the opposition parties can, however, bring it up at the first opportunity, which will almost certainly result in a debate over privilege, in which the word "contempt" may come up.
Questions of Privilege, of course, take precedence over all other House business -- with the exception of Question Period, of all things -- which is why the Liberal Whip may not have felt any pressing need to bring it up in his correspondence with his Conservative counterpart; it's not up to the government to acquiesce to any such request, but to the House as a whole to decide how to deal with the apparent reluctance to comply with the Order.
Depending on how much leeway the Speaker gives those with differing views on the subject to air their thoughts, the resulting debate could stretch for days -- and would preempt anything else that the government hoped to put on the agenda, including -- unlikely, but possible -- the tabling of the budget, or at least doing so in the House of Commons. (Then again, can anyone really imagine the Liberals, at least, demonstrating sufficient collective spine to actually force the government to recognize the supremacy of Parliament before allowing the finance minister to deliver his speech?)
Anyway, with just two and a half weeks before the House is slated to come back, the clock is already ticking, so it will be fascinating to see how O'Connor responds to Cuzner's not-officially-a-counter offer. I'll keep you posted."
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