I have absolutely nothing against honey. In my opinion, it is quite normal to add information to the rules, even if it is not necessarily perfected. It may happen, when there are technical information sessions, that the information is incomplete or still at the draft stage. I understand that that information might not be as useful to the public as it could be to parliamentarians. I of course share Mr. Angus's concerns, regarding the way in which this provision could be used in the future. I wonder whether it would not be preferable to decide which technical information sessions should be held in camera, and which could be public.
The idea is that there would not necessarily be exclusivity on this, and the committee would enjoy a certain flexibility in order to be able to make its decisions, and we could then give the Canadian population as well as journalists better access to these documents. We need to be able to use our judgment. We were elected with the expectation that we would use the head we have on our shoulders. I would agree to adding that, given that we could then call on the committee's judgment as well as that of our chair, without abusing this practice.
When I worked as a public servant, I sometimes provided information to officials and to ministers' offices. I can confirm that the quality and accuracy of that information sometimes varied. I recognize the effort made by my Liberal colleague who wants to add a provision that could satisfy everyone here. I thank him for his spirit of cooperation. It is pleasant to see that there can be cooperation around this table. My personal intent today was to see how it might be possible to draw up rules regarding the holding of in camera meetings that would be satisfactory, and to hold this important debate.
Mr. Andrews has just added a provision to the motion which is important, in my view. I am waiting to see what the government members think of it. I wonder if it meets their demands, and if it respects their desire to deal with certain matters in camera, or whether it meets their democratic instincts to some extent. Up till now, we have not had the opportunity to hear their point of view on this, but all is not lost. I think that a consensus is always possible. I am a person who likes to get up every morning with hope in his heart, and I hope that that is true about everyone around the table. I was not a member of this committee previously, but even if cooperation was sometimes difficult in your relationships and work here, that does not mean that it is impossible today to do things differently.
In that spirit of cooperation, and to extend cooperation to Mr. Angus, I am pleased to support the addition submitted by Mr. Andrews.