There have been 250,000 applications in the last decade, and yet, as it presently stands, a sitting member of Parliament, putting aside being in cabinet, being a parliamentary secretary and having a clearance from a previous career, is shut out. I mean, it seems passing strange. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, having regard for the fact that parliamentarians' core function is to hold the government to account on matters of national security, foreign policy, national defence, public safety and so on.
How does it make sense that 250,000 Canadians have secret security clearances, but if I, as a member of Parliament, applied, I'd almost certainly be turned down?