A 'cloud of suspicion' hangs over Parliament — and no one knows what to do about it

There is a «cloud of suspicion» hanging over the House of Commons, Conservative MP Gerard Deltell said on Monday.

On this meteorological metaphor (if on nothing else), there is widespread agreement.

«A dark cloud hangs over all 338 members,» Liberal MP Ken McDonald said.

«It is true that since the report landed with the force of a bomb last week, it has let a cloud of suspicion hang over this entire place,» NDP MP Alistair MacGregor said.

«It puts us under a cloud of suspicion, a permanent cloud,» Bloc Québécois MP Yves Perron suggested.

If a cloud now hangs over Parliament, it was created by parliamentarians who allegedly collaborated, deliberately or otherwise, with hostile foreign states — or at least by the intelligence sources that relayed those allegations to Canada's national security agencies.

That cloud was then dangled over Parliament Hill last week by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) when its members chose to float those allegations without naming the individuals in question.

NSICOP suggested that MPs or senators have acted «contrary to the oaths and affirmations Parliamentarians take to conduct themselves in the best interest of Canada.» But the committee did not say how Parliament should proceed from there — what should be done now that unnamed members have been broadly accused of serious wrongdoing.

Left to their own devices, parliamentarians have been unable to arrive at a resolution. And in lieu of a clear path forward, the House of Commons has decided to ask for more help — this time from Justice Marie-Josée Hogue's commission on foreign interference.

It remains to be seen if Hogue can bring more clarity to a situation that is crying out for it.

The challenge with