That is such a dangerous path to ever go down, to have elected officials be able to start and direct investigations. We normally look at other countries that can do this, and we've seen other countries that go down this path. There's an absolute reason in our democracies....
We have separate systems. We have the political systems that all of us are a part of. We have our police that are independent, and then we have our judicial system that is independent. Inside the military, our military police are trained police officers just like in civil society. Information needs to go to them, and they conduct investigations independent of the chain of command.
For any politician, including me.... Yes, I'm in charge of the ministry and the entire national defence. For me to launch an investigation on any individual, as a politician, or to direct an investigation, my God, that's absolutely wrong. We should never be doing that. Anybody suggesting that is also wrong, but it's up to them if they want to pursue that and explain that to Canadians.