Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I think it would be helpful if I would ask that the clerk specify all of the grounds for redaction under access to information so that this committee knows what those grounds would be. Committee members will see that there are many more grounds for redaction than just the privacy, cabinet confidence and the national security criteria. We would say that is the alternate way of proceeding.
In response to my colleague Mr. Van Bynen, I would just point out one thing: There is a difference between the ATIP process and the powers of a committee to compel production. We're not the same body. We're not a member of the public seeking information from the government, nor are we an individual member of Parliament seeking information through the ATIP process.
I'm going to remind you that these are the words of the law clerk of the House of Commons.
...we reminded the government officials that the House's and its committees' powers to order the production of records is absolute and unfettered as it constitutes a constitutional parliamentary privilege that supersedes statutory obligations.
ATIP is a statute that governs the regular process of seeking information from government. That's not who we are in this, and that's not the power and the privilege that we are exercising in this case. To accede to that argument is to relegate this committee to the same status as a regular citizen. That's not what the citizens of this country expect us to do. They have accorded constitutional authority to these committees to get information beyond that. That's what they expect us to do.
I'd like to hear an argument for why the members of the committee who are in favour of this amendment want to clip our wings and circumscribe our ability to get the documents that we need to get in order to truly hold the civil service accountable.