Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As you know, Mr. Chair, we are permitted to use the time allocated to us for questions or comments. Therefore, I'd like to let you know that I want to use my five minutes not for questions to our witnesses but for commentary about the matter at hand, which I am permitted to do under the rules.
There has been plenty of talk of NSICOP at this committee. NSICOP is not a committee of Parliament. Not only is it not a committee of Parliament, but MPs and senators on that committee actually give up their parliamentary rights.
Its members and its chair are hired and fired by the Prime Minister. Any minister has the right to refuse the committee information and to block a committee review, and the Prime Minister has the right, the power, to change committee reports before they are made public, so it's clearly the wrong committee to hold the government accountable for national security breaches. It's akin to putting the fox in charge of the hen house.
It's also not the same committee, as was previously mentioned today, as committees in other countries like the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom's Intelligence and Security Committee is a committee of Parliament. Its members are confirmed by the House of Commons, not by the Prime Minister. It has substantial powers to compel the government to provide it with information, and it has full power to produce reports and to access information concerning national security.
The Minister of Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada are defying an order of the House of Commons, dated June 2, 2021.
That order said in clause (a):
these documents shall be deposited with the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, in both official languages, within 48 hours of the adoption of this order;
That was to be have been completed by Friday, June 4. That deadline passed, and the government did not comply with the order. The Minister of Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada failed to deposit these documents with the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel by the end of day, Friday, June 4, as the order required.
That order explicitly put in place provisions to protect national security and the details of any ongoing criminal investigation.
The order said in clause (d):
the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel shall confidentially review the documents with a view to redacting information which, in his opinion, could reasonably be expected to compromise national security or reveal details of an ongoing criminal investigation, other than the existence of an investigation;
A question of privilege has been raised in the House of Commons on this issue, and the Speaker has been asked to rule whether there is a prima facie case of privilege. The Speaker is expected to rule on this in the coming days. The precedents are clear, especially the precedent set in Speaker Milliken's ruling of 2010.
The Minister of Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada are defying an order of the House of Commons to produce information that Parliament has requested, just like the government did in 2011. In the 2011 case, the government was found in contempt of Parliament for refusing to deliver the documents requested.
I supported Speaker Milliken's ruling at the time, and publicly indicated this. While I maintained confidence in the government at that time, I supported the finding of contempt. That's unlike the current Prime Minister, who said one thing in opposition and does another thing in government.
The Minister of Health, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the government are violating a House order of June 2. I believe they all are in contempt of Parliament.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.