Mr. Speaker, for the member opposite, in this whole discussion the factor that seems to be missing is the whole question of sources of information that Canada relies on for national security purposes.
This information comes from a variety of sources. It comes from agencies all around the world. There is an exchange of information. If this information were to become public, then of course those agencies and foreign countries would no longer give information to Canada. That would be an unfortunate development because a lot of that information is useful for our national security purposes.
The way the process goes is that under the current regime the government goes to a Federal Court judge and makes the argument on the information of CSIS, the RCMP, the Department of National Defence or other agencies. I note that a Federal Court judge does not get there because he or she is a rookie or does not have any experience or is just out of Osgoode Hall Law School. These judges have been around for a while. They are charged with challenging the credibility of the evidence being put forward.
Is the evidence corroborated? Is it reliable? Has it been derived from torture? That is the job of the Federal Court judge. What this bill is doing is actually enhancing that process, because a special advocate will actually pursue those questions quite vigorously on behalf of Canadians and on behalf of those who might be detained under security certificates.
To say that people do not know why they are being detained is not right. They know why they are being detained. They do not know all the sources of the information.
I would like to know from the member how he would deal with the question of sources of intelligence that are important for our national security interests if they got onto the floor of a court or into the public domain.