I want to add my voice to that of the members who have spoken before me. The ruling of the Speaker of the House, Mr. Milliken, reaffirms the right of parliamentarians to demand documents and persons as need be to throw light on those documents and to understand programs better.
I also want to underline the fact that here, in this committee, we have never exercised this privilege to the detriment of the public interest. The ruling of the Speaker is on a much broader issue and deals with information relating to national security, information that is much more sensitive, I admit. Several Parliaments have established methods to resolve this issue in order to be able to look at this type of records and documents. I believe that, over the next two weeks, the parties represented in the House will come to a solution.
That being said, it does not change anything to the fact that we have to let the various departments know that we do not agree with the answer of the Department of Justice which is contrary to the ruling made by the Speaker on April 27, 2010.
I find the third paragraph of the letter as drafted to be appropriate. This letter could have been much stronger, like the previous one. It is strictly factual and simply reiterates the position of the committee, at least on this side.