Thank you, sir.
The issue has to do with the legislation. If it was brought by the government, the legislation is required to go through the Department of Justice and an opinion must be sought and given that the legislation is complying with the charter. So, seeking to have this extension to facilitate the amendment of this legislation bypassing that process is something this committee ought not to be doing.
The Charter of Rights is there for a reason. We're dealing with legislation that involves the taking away of citizenship of Canadians or preventing citizenship from taking place, and citizenship is something people value very highly, as we heard from Mr. Nicholls concerning his own personal circumstances. It's a very high issue of concern in the law and in people's rights.
This is unprecedented legislation in this country and, as has been pointed out, we don't know of the countries to which we compare ourselves doing this. By achieving this or attempting to bypass this process by.... Well, it's part of the increasing in scope, obviously, but the point is that the new legislation that's being requested to be made available would not have been given that official consideration by the Department of Justice lawyers, and we suggest that it would be a very good reason why this committee ought not to request this extension, because it ought not to do anything to facilitate that process.
Sir, I'd leave that with you and have myself put back on the speakers list for the next round.
