OTTAWA — The Senate’s ethics watchdog is telling the upper chamber to provide him documents more quickly to speed up investigations and strengthen his independence. Legault also says the ethics officer should weigh in on a harassment case only if the upper chamber determines it is significant enough to cause damage to the reputation of the Senate. During the review, the details of which Legault made public Friday, the ethics officer ran into hurdles accessing documents needed as part of the probe. Legault wrote that the internal-economy committee — charged with overseeing Senate rules and spending — “invoked parliamentary privilege on a number of occasions,” meaning the ethics officer couldn’t get what he wanted. Legault also noted that refusing information based on parliamentary privilege “may result in a lack of evidence” that affects findings.

Source: National Post July 02, 2019 20:03 UTC