Certainly. Thank you, Mr. Harris.
As indicated in previous appearances that I've made, the committee's powers to send for papers and records comes from section 18 of the Constitution. It comes from parliamentary privilege and gives the power to send for persons and papers. It is at a higher level than ordinary statutes, and Speaker Milliken in his ruling and the Supreme Court of Canada have recognized the primacy of Constitutional provisions, and in particular parliamentary privilege, and indeed the 2015 document cited today in terms of the government's policy refers to Speaker Milliken's decision in 2010.
It's the same authority that is pointed to, and that authority from Speaker Milliken makes it very clear, as does the authority in other Parliaments, that the constitutional authority of committees and of the House supersedes and is not limited by ordinary statutes like the Privacy Act or the Access to Information Act. These are important public policy considerations, but they do not limit. Speaker Millliken was explicit on the point that the statutes do not allow the government to unilaterally determine that something would be confidential.
It may well be that the House and committees will agree with the submissions, but at the end of the day, it is to the committees and ultimately to the House to decide.