Evidence of meeting #7 for Declaration of Emergency in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rcmp.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
I'm referring to any advice with respect to this Emergencies Act, any legal advice as to whether the threshold was met and the provisions were charter-compliant. Canadians want to know that answer.
Commr Brenda Lucki
I wasn't part of the discussions on the legal threshold and whether the legal threshold was met.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Well, who in your department received legal advice if it wasn't the commissioner?
Commr Brenda Lucki
That was done by the people who made the decision to invoke the act, and we did not —
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Okay, so the information from Justice or the information from your legal department went to whom at the RCMP? Was it to you or to somebody else?
Commr Brenda Lucki
No. We have legal services, but we only discussed, once the authorities were available,what it meant for us.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Okay, maybe I'm confusing you.
My colleague Mr. Green asked you a question regarding some advice. You cited solicitor-client privilege for which you are the client, and you are entitled to waive it. I'll get to that in a moment. My question is who gave the RCMP legal advice regarding anything pertaining to the Emergencies Act before the invocation. Was it the Department of Justice, or was it your internal legal department?
Conservative
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Right. Okay.
I see that I have 10 seconds left.
Are you still maintaining solicitor-client privilege, or are you willing to waive that?
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
You're not part of the cabinet. You're not part of that confidence.
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
No, you have another minute [Inaudible—Editor] seconds.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
You're not part of cabinet. You're not an elected official. So why are you hiding behind cabinet confidentiality? Canadians want to know—
Liberal
Rachel Bendayan Liberal Outremont, QC
On a point of order, Madam Chair, I would just request that the questions go through the chair rather than directly to the witness.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
I didn't think we were that formal, Madam Chair, that we had to say “through the chair”.
Liberal
The Joint Chair Hon. Gwen Boniface
[Inaudible—Editor] witness may answer the question. We stopped the clock.
Go ahead. There are 37 seconds.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Why do you feel you are bound by cabinet confidentiality as an unelected official?
Commr Brenda Lucki
When I'm providing information within cabinet, I'm bound by the rules of cabinet.