Mr. Chair, I think this is starting quite badly. I might also have to speak with my lawyer present, because I think this has got off on the wrong foot.
However, I would like to raise some questions with Mr. Watkin and Mr. Breithaupt that are actually important.
I would like for us to have an admission facts, as is done in court. I don't know whether you are familiar with that approach. As lawyers, you must be familiar with it. Please understand, and I am speaking to the witnesses, Mr. Chair, that the House of Commons has a traditional role to play, as the Grand Inquest. We, all of us who are members, are the protectors of the realm; I think that is a good way of starting off. And you are entitled to protect your realm, or the people behind you, who have instructed you, are entitled to protect their realm. As a part of that Grand Inquest, I did not see any openness in your presentation to having the Grand Inquest perform precisely that role.
I want to remind you of the important principles that must be put on the table. That is why I suggest an admission of facts.
If a law allows ministers or the government to conceal information from Parliament, that will mean that the government may invoke the law and avoid its obligation to account to the House. At this point, I am immersed in parliamentary rights and I want you to know that parliamentary rights will soon take priority over your own rights. We here carry the legitimacy of elected representatives. The government is entitled to defend its realm, but we are entitled to get to the bottom of an investigation, and that is what must be done.
There is a second principle. Where there is legislation whose words provide that it applies to parliamentary proceedings, the House and its committees have the authority to decide whether the legislation applies to its proceedings, and how it applies. That is very far-reaching. It means that you could not cite the legislation to say that you cannot answer our questions. It takes precedence. We are the ones who will take precedence here. You must account to us.
I do not want to back you into a corner, but that is not all. In the case of legislation and provisions relating to national security... And we are going to get to the bottom of national security, because we, the members here, are tired of being told that we can't be told something because of national security. You are soon going to have to justify it, this national security, and we are the ones who will demand that, as the elected representatives of the people and the holders of parliamentary rights, which are very important.
How, in what circumstances, will the provisions apply to the House and its committees, if they apply? That will be our decision to make. The decisions of the House or its committees in that regard cannot be reviewed by any court. That means that you could not even go out the door here and tell your principals that you are going to court because you don't want to answer questions from the Standing Committee on National Defence. You could not do that.
I don't know whether you are prepared to answer my questions, but I can give you time to reconsider things and go back to your principals and ask them whether what I have said is true. You will see that what I am saying is true.
Will you be prepared to answer all questions concerning national security? And do you agree with my interpretation? Do you agree to the facts, that the parliamentary principles I have just laid out supersede your rights, in legal terms? Do you acknowledge that? If you want to take it under reserve and answer later, I have no problem with that. However, I want this question to be settled from the start.