Thank you, Mr. Chair. My remarks will be brief.
I will assert very profoundly that, as Mr. Genuis said—I'm not quite quoting him—I believe in the supremacy of Parliament. I believe in the absolute right of parliamentarians to request documents, papers and other items to do their work, but I also am very much convinced that, in this situation, an elegant solution has been reached. I am hoping that the Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois will avail themselves of the opportunity to both read unredacted documents and to understand the nature of the redactions, and then to deal with the process that will involve an independent judicial panel that will make a final determination. I think it respects Parliament. There is nothing in our tradition that says that parliamentary committees are paramount over parliamentarians, and there is flexibility. There is always movement and understanding within the tradition.
I heard Mr. Genuis earlier speak about a shadow minister. I would ask him, through you, Mr. Chair, at some point to tell me where, in our Standing Orders, that title exists. We accept it because it is a moving tradition that one party has chosen to use, but it's not part of parliamentary tradition, and it is not part of our Standing Orders. However, we suffer it, and we allow them to use that, though it isn't part of our tradition. Likewise, parliamentary committees are part of our tradition, but there is nothing in our tradition that doesn't allow for other things.
We are borrowing a page, frankly, from former prime minister Stephen Harper, who I think also found an elegant solution when it came to the Afghanistan papers. That was acceptable to the Conservatives of the day, in a very similar situation. I am hoping that they will see that this is a very acceptable and elegant solution.
It does two things. It preserves the right of parliamentarians, who are delegated. I am not at everything that happens in Parliament, but as long as there are parliamentarians sharing my views involved in it, I feel part of it. This gives a chance for Parliament to express its supremacy and to make that demand.
At the same time, it also honours the nature of public safety and public security. I would hope that the party of civil rights, which the Conservative Party has declared itself to be since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was made under a Conservative government, would also see that we have a responsibility as parliamentarians to uphold the good of the whole country. That extends us beyond partisan politics. It extends us into doing something that's good.
On our side, we will be voting against this motion, but not in a vacuum. We're voting against it knowing that there is a solution that's been proposed. We'll be voting against it knowing that, with hope, members of the official opposition will find a way to involve themselves. They've asked to see the papers. The papers are going to be available. This is a way for them to see those. I hope that they would trust their colleagues who are chosen to be part of that committee to do that work on their behalf.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.