Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee.
To address some of the points and questions, it is a constitutional power that you have as committees to seek documents, papers and information, as mentioned and recognized by Speaker Milliken in his ruling. This power, this right, also brings with it responsibilities. There's a responsibility to exercise it reasonably and with care and having public interest impacts and implications in mind. Speaker Milliken in his ruling noted the more than 140 years of collaboration between the House and the executive, the House, in its role as the grand inquest of the nation, and the executive, in that case, in its role of defender of the realm, and balancing these and having regard for these important public interests and concerns.
What Speaker Milliken clarified, however, is that it is for the committees and ultimately for the House to make that determination in the exercise of that power. The government does not have a unilateral right to make the determination and to have the House essentially be bound by that determination. Even in a case where there are statutory principles that apply, the House's constitutional authority will supersede those.
There were questions about potential impacts on lawful investigations. That's certainly something that's recognized as a public policy concern in the access to information legislation, and it is listed as a ground for redactions under that act. The question becomes, is this something that the committee will accept as one of the reasons—perhaps considering the options of having information in camera and considering whether it should share that information further or keep that information in camera—on the balancing of the interests and reducing any harm to the public interest?
In terms of national security and other grounds, my office acts essentially as the department of justice for the legislative branch and we provide legal services and legal advice to committees on all of their areas of law, including all of those potential grounds for confidentiality that committees and/or the House may decide to accept or not accept. We are prepared and able to provide that legal advice in the interpretation of those concepts, including national security, commercial sensitivity and so on.
That said, there may well be some factual information and knowledge that the government or other entities have that we don't have, because it's their information and their concerns, and they may be well placed to share that with us with regard to proposed redactions or proposed areas of concern. That's certainly something the committee can consider, namely, to have my office provide you with advice on the scope and application of those grounds, but not preventing the government or any witness from proposing and raising a concern—albeit, with this committee, and ultimately the House, still having the last word on accepting or not that interpretation.