Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Iain Stewart, in his letter to our committee indicated that he could not release the documents and information we had requested because it was personal information and that the Privacy Act prevents the release of personal information under the control of a government institution.
I don't know what legal advice he got, but I think it's incorrect. He says in his letter that “the Privacy Act provides that personal information under the control of a government institution shall not, without the consent of the individual to whom it relates, be disclosed except in accordance with the circumstances described in subsection 8(2) of the Privacy Act.”
He then goes on in the letter to indicate and imply that the only way in which he could release that information to the committee was under paragraph 8(2)(g), where the person in question whose information we are seeking would have to consent to that release.
The implication that it's the only way he can release that information is incorrect. I'd like to draw the attention of the committee to, in the same section of the Privacy Act, paragraph 8(2)(c). I will read it out. It's very short.
Article 8(2)(c) states:
(2) Subject to any other Act of Parliament, personal information under the control of a government institution may be disclosed... (c) for the purpose of complying with a subpoena or warrant issued or order made by a court, person or body with jurisdiction to compel the production of information or for the purpose of complying with rules of court relating to the production of information;
Paragraph 8(2)(c) clearly says that personal information under the control of the Public Health Agency of Canada may be disclosed for the purpose of complying with an order made by a body with jurisdiction to compel the production of information.
We are a body with the jurisdiction to compel the production of information, so I don't know what legal advice Mr. Iain Stewart got, but it is incorrect. We are a body with the jurisdiction to compel the production of information. We adopted a motion calling for the production of that information. That motion is in order to compel the production of information, and the Public Health Agency of Canada needs to comply with that.
In fact, the Privacy Act was written with the Constitution in mind. As you mentioned in your opening remarks, Mr. Chair, it was written with the Constitution's provisions that promulgate the ancient rights and privileges of Parliament, one of which is to compel the production of information and documents.
I will quote from House of Commons Procedure and Practice, which describes this power:
The Standing Orders state that standing committees have the power to order the production of papers and records, another privilege rooted in the Constitution that is delegated by the House.
It goes on to state:
The Standing Orders do not delimit the power to order the production of papers and records...There is no limit on the types of papers likely to be requested; the only prerequisite is that the papers exist—in hard copy or electronic format—and that they are located in Canada.
It continues:
No statute or practice diminishes the fullness of that power rooted in House privileges unless there is an explicit legal provision to that effect, or unless the House adopts a specific resolution limiting the power. The House has never set a limit on its power to order the production of papers and records.
Finally, it states:
In cases where the author of or the authority responsible for a record refuses to comply with an order issued by a committee to produce documents.... The third option is to reject the reasons given for denying access to the record and uphold the order to produce the entire record.
In other words, what we are doing today in this motion, if it were to be adopted, is rejecting the reasons that the Public Health Agency of Canada has given in denying this information, and we are upholding the previous request that we made last week. I strongly urge members of the committee to support this motion.
I'll finish by saying this. Speaker Milliken, who was a great Speaker of the House of Commons, reaffirmed these ancient privileges of the House under the Constitution and law to order the production of these papers. He confirmed it in his ruling of 2010 on the Afghan detainee documents, and he confirmed it in his precedent-setting Commonwealth parliamentary ruling in 2011, which set a precedent for parliaments throughout the Commonwealth, that compelled the Harper government to release financial information concerning a range of matters, including the costing of F-35 jets.
I publicly supported Speaker Milliken's ruling at that time, and I am urging members of the committee to uphold the powers of this committee and the House in general and support this motion.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.