Thank you very much, Chair.
Thank you, ministers and witnesses, for being here.
I've been here as well all this time. I've studied as much information as I can at this committee and outside of this committee on the invocation. I still believe, more strongly today than I did in 2022, that the circumstances to invoke the act were not met, the threshold was not met. In fact, I agree with Justice Mosley's decision that it was, in fact, illegal and unconstitutional. This is a binding precedent, unlike Rouleau's particular ruling.
The other thing I think the Canadian public needs to understand is that Canadians expect their government to follow the law, the rule of law, and not to create an interpretation thereof that makes it convenient for the government to circumvent the existing law.
Mr. Virani, you indicated that there are hundreds of years of precedent for lawyer-client privilege, and the relationship has lasted hundreds of years. Do you know what else has lasted all that time? Parliament has been making laws of the land to govern people.
By invoking the Emergencies Act, cabinet gave itself the power to pass criminal laws, which Mosley found to be unconstitutional. Have you actually found and read the infamous broader interpretation, yes or no?