You have raised a dilemma, Minister. Should we be studying an issue that may have an impact on a bill before the bill is introduced? When the committee studied Bill C-2, we had the bill before us. Subsequently, we had a few difficulties with the bill, as I mentioned earlier, following the comments by the law clerk who spoke to us about parliamentary privilege.
I come back to the issue regarding members of Parliament, because that is of interest to me. I am a member of Parliament, not a parliamentary secretary or a minister. I find the subject rather intriguing.
First of all, when we were studying Bill C-2, we agreed that the privilege of journalists not to reveal their sources must be protected. A number of journalists from the CBC came to meet with the committee. If I understand what you have said today, a lawyer would be less protected than a journalist, because solicitor-client privilege could be set aside under access to information legislation. You are therefore asking us to consider this problem, since we dealt with the one regarding journalists. Solicitor-client privilege, which is even recognized in the case of civil procedures in Quebec, could be compromised, with the result that journalists would be better protected than lawyers.
If the opposition were to ask a lawyer for advice, that would mean, under the new legislation that you are asking us to consider, that I could ask the lawyer who advised the opposition to testify in order to find out what the opposition really thinks.
Are you asking us to study that before a bill is introduced?