The public interest ground behind Parliament having those included in the Access to Information Act as exceptions for solicitor-client privilege is the need to ensure confidentiality, so that clients can obtain solicitor-client advice. The deliberations of government have to do with receiving frank advice when making decisions and considering options. Third party information is to protect competitive positions, trade secrets and other matters for third parties. Personal information is to protect individuals' personal information and dignity in these types of information. There are some public policy considerations behind those grounds. In large measure, they have to do with that information being made public.
As I stated in my remarks, committees ought to give weight to those public policy factors, in my view, but it is up to committees to decide how to balance them. There may be different circumstances and there may be different options in certain instances. Speaker Milliken's decision on the Afghan detainee issue had to do with national security—certainly a major public policy consideration—and the House and the Speaker found that the committee nonetheless had the power to request that information. However, they put in place a mechanism so that it could be done confidentially.