Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The government members will support a request for any legally available documents.
I think Mr. Dewar is grossly underestimating the amount of time it would take to assemble the documents, and I'm really referring to all three similar motions across the floor. But we cannot support a motion that is impossible to fulfill within any reasonable time limits, especially if it's a precondition to hearing witnesses who have important testimony. As well, this committee, we believe, is not taking enough cognizance of security concerns on redactions and cabinet confidences. They are not the final arbiter on national security, and we will not violate laws passed by this House on national security.
This motion, we believe, is clearly aimed at preventing David Mulroney and others from testifying. We've already heard from eight witnesses, without documents. We're planning to hear currently from about another seven. There is no need for documents to hear Mr. Mulroney. We believe they are clearly not comfortable with what he's probably going to say, and frankly, we can call him back later if we need to. He is not on another planet.
I do find it a bit surprising the Bloc Québécois is ready to give up their rights to documents in French quite so easily. This government has a responsibility under the Official Languages Act and the Standing Orders of this House to produce bilingual documents. I think it's incumbent upon this committee to respect those long-standing traditions and laws.
For all those reasons, government members will abstain from votes on the motion. While we support requesting legally available documents, we cannot agree with impossible timelines, national security violations, and clear attempts to muzzle testimony. So for that reason, Mr. Chair, we will not be voting against it, but we will be abstaining from those motions.