You've written in the past that freedom of information “serves both as a ‘silent auditor’ guaranteeing accountability, checking corruption, improving in many areas of human rights, as well as an ‘open microphone’ encouraging participation in government by every sector of society”. When you think about transparency versus national security, under transparency you get accountability. You get policy analysis like Mr. Shimooka does. You get media access and availability to the general public. It supports us as parliamentarians in making sure our democracy is strong.
Is there any check on that versus national security? There are the regular classifications of secret, top secret or unclassified information, as well as the responsibility under the National Defence Act of those who take the oath to serve this country and work in the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. Aside from those, are there changes we need to be making in the legislation to ensure that democracy is the ultimate winner?