Thank you. I'll answer the question. NSICOP is not a committee of Parliament. This is stated in subsection 4(3):
The Committee is not a committee of either House of Parliament or of both Houses.
Not only is this committee not a committee of Parliament, MPs and senators on the committee actually give up their parliamentary rights. Subsection 12(1) says:
Despite any other law, no member or former member of the Committee may claim immunity based on parliamentary privilege in a proceeding against them in relation to a contravention of subsection 11(1) or of a provision of the Security of Information Act or in relation to any other proceeding arising from any disclosure of information that is prohibited under that subsection.
So NSICOP is not a committee of Parliament. Its members give up the rights they have as parliamentarians. Its members and its chair are hired and fired by the Prime Minister. Any minister has the right to refuse the committee information and block the committee's review, and the Prime Minister has the power to change committee reports before they are made public.
It's clearly the wrong committee to hold the government accountable for national security breaches. It's like the fox guarding the henhouse, and more importantly, by sending these documents to NSICOP, you are in violation of two orders of this committee and an order of the House.
Minister, with the greatest of respect, for the last year and a half during this pandemic, you have been telling Canadians they should follow public health orders while you and your agency have thumbed your noses at two orders of this committee and one order of the House of Commons.
So much for the rule of law.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.