Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Some of that is not subject matter that I want to get into the middle of. I'll just say that if we take at face value the expression of intent by all members, which is to get this motion, or something very similar to it, adopted, then in the time we have left I would very much encourage, to ensure that we really deliver on that stated intention, that we get these amendments that have been discussed on the table, for us to be able to proceed to a vote on them as well as on the main motion.
In response to a couple of comments and questions, I would just say very briefly that we need to underline that no public disclosure is triggered by this motion, full stop. No public disclosure of documents is triggered by this motion.
This motion is the committee's sending for documents, creating a mechanism by which it can review the documents, and discussions about the issues and challenges related to national security, ongoing investigations, commercial sensitivity, privacy, whatever, that inform questions about public disclosure. Those are questions we will need to consider carefully and that we will need advice on, but we can't consider them until we have the documents. This motion is about sending for the documents and then allowing us to make a determination at that point. Again, no public disclosure is triggered by this motion itself.
Just in response to Mr. Oliphant's earlier comments, the other point is that we are not seeking documents from the RCMP; we are seeking documents from the Public Health Agency of Canada and its subsidiaries. To questions about ongoing investigations, of course that should inform considerations around what we disclose, but it is important to say and to recall that Mr. Stewart himself said that he didn't have information about the ongoing investigation. Any information about an ongoing investigation is in the hands of the RCMP, and we are not even seeking documents from the RCMP.
Mr. Harris had raised the questions: Do we need all of these documents, and is there some narrowing that we can propose in this motion?
What we need to find out very clearly is why these viruses were sent, the protocols and protections around that, and why these scientists were removed. What were the issues there? What broader questions does this raise for the way in which national security is protected in these sensitive environments?
We have narrowed it to the extent of asking for documents from a particular agency, but I don't really think that further narrowing can be done, because it's only when we see the documents that we'll be able to know what pieces are where, and then to decide what is really important, what can and can't be disclosed, and so forth.
Finally I'll just say that the Conservatives are supportive of the general direction of Mr. Harris' proposed amendment, saying something like these documents would be distributed to members concurrently with their being referred to the law clerk and parliamentary counsel. I think it would be a fairly minor amendment as well if Mr. Oliphant wanted to propose adding in that we would invite advice from other public bodies, at the discretion of the committee, in addition to seeking advice from the Law Clerk and the Parliamentary Counsel on what to disclose. There are other public bodies that would want to provide us with advice in writing.
I assume that the Public Health Agency of Canada would provide us with advice in writing about what to make public and what not to make public, regardless of whether or not we ask for that advice.
Those are all fairly minor points, I think, and we can explore some of these specific issues around disclosure once we have the documents.
The main point is that if we take at face value the stated intention of everybody, then let's make sure that we get this done, because this is clearly important and clearly in the public interest, and at least we have this acknowledgement of the rights of parliamentarians in this case by all members of the committee.