There is another basic issue that has not been resolved. When General Watkin appeared before the committee, he explained that his perspective on this matter was of a legal nature. I challenged him on this and said that my perspective was of a parliamentary nature.
Parliamentary committees possess specific rights. I even said that we could interpret laws according to the needs of the committee. And I remember very well, Mr. Chair, that I stated at the end of the meeting that I strongly recommended to the general to go and meet with his client, the Government of Canada, to see if his client shared his perspective or ours. As long as we do not resolve this matter, as long as we have no guarantee of the primacy of Parliament's right over the legal right claimed by Mr. Watkin, the government will not feel compelled to table this type of document. I would like you to speak to the general.
Are we going to hear all the witnesses only to be told at the end that we will never see those documents? We can compel witnesses to appear but can a committee compel a government or anyone to provide documents? That is a very important matter. I think we will have to look at that. Otherwise, we risk having to hear witnesses without seeing certain documents. We would have a hand tied in our back.
I also want to react to Mrs. Gallant's statement. We have always requested that documents be provided in both official languages and our position has not changed. When we did our study on submarines, for example, we were frequently told that it would take more time because of documents having to be translated.
I am sure you will understand that this is a matter of principle for us and that we will always want to have documents in French. It is not true that it would be a huge task. As a matter of fact, whenever we ask for a translation, we are always told that it will be a huge task. We are told that the committee will be unable to do its work because we will have to wait for the translated documents. However, when it is urgent, the government always finds a solution. Today, I believe that the situation is urgent. The government will have to find a way to provide us with the documents in both official languages and we will have to get a definite statement on the primacy of Parliament's rights over the legal right claimed by the government's representative during our first meeting. I would like you to follow-up with General Watkin. I want to know his answer.