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However, Lagassé said the ideal scenario is still for the justice committee to invite her back, as parliament works best when negotiations take place and agreements are reached on matters of privilege.

“To my mind, if she does have something essential that she needs to say, one would hope that she would be invited back and given the opportunity to do so in a setting where it’s contained and it’s very clear what the rules are, and that cabinet is comfortable with what she is and is not able to say,” he said.

Another invitation to appear as a witness

Even if the Commons justice committee blocks Wilson-Raybould from returning, she may get an invitation from somewhere else.

The most likely place this would happen is the Senate, where the Liberals no longer have a caucus so they no longer have the ability to control votes. The Senate is now a mix of groups, with the largest being the Independent Senators Group (most of whom were appointed by Trudeau).

The Senate is still debating a motion to launch its own inquiry into the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Sen. Peter Harder, the government representative in the Senate, has moved an amendment that would effectively kill the Senate’s own inquiry and leave it up to the ethics commissioner’s office to investigate.

Photo by LARS HAGBERG/AFP/Getty Images

If Harder’s amendment fails and the Senate votes to conduct its own investigation, Wilson-Raybould would be invited to testify — and her testimony would be covered by parliamentary privilege. But the Senate’s debate on the motion could still drag out for weeks.