While I understand what my friends are attempting to do in terms of moving the ball down the field and getting to the bottom of an issue, I have a concern. The terminology “compel” is more than just requesting. It says that we must take, in my view, every action possible, which could include litigation. I don't think we can make a decision that includes the possibility of litigating whether or not Parliamentary privilege has a higher calling than solicitor-client privilege or client privilege—whatever the terminology is for KPMG—in terms of protecting interests. I don't know whether or not that's a legal battle that this committee is fully understanding the ramifications of, and we should have legal advice before we take a decision to do this.
I know I'm being legalistic in my application to this. While I understand, as I said, the intent of it, I'm very concerned about the long-term, long run costs associated with doing this. My suggestion would be to wait until the end of the court proceedings and then compel CRA, through the government, to provide us with that information, if that's the route and that's what the intention is. Up until that time I have great concerns about having a finance committee try to go through the hoops that would be necessary in order to get KPMG.... They will litigate this until they have exhausted every line of appeal because they have to in order to protect their reputation of protecting information, so we're going up against a large brick wall, Mr. Chair, and while I applaud and appreciate the intention, as I said, the process with respect to this is too onerous, too difficult, and too expensive.