Chair, at the risk of opening up a new front, my understanding, as reflected in my comments, was that all the documents we're dealing with have already been sent. But I'm reminded by Mr. Saxton, and you, that we've got a whole load of other documents, and certainly we on this side of the committee would urge that there be the same pressure on the government to deliver.
However, my point is that given the fact that we did not have an opportunity to make a determination on whether or not the first batch—I'll call everything up until now the first batch—should be kept confidential, I, for one, would argue we at least should have started on that agreement in camera...just to be safe, based on the advice we got and the fact that it was meant to be confidential.
It's all out there now, and it says so in there—it was part of the agreement. Therefore we may have concluded there was no public good to be served by exercising our right to overlook the legislation that otherwise would have protected a citizen. At least it would have been a point of debate; I think that's fair.
Believe me, I'm the last guy who wants to complicate things. But in going forward and trying to be responsible, should we now put some measure in place that puts a better guarantee, not on our access to it, but on our ability to better ensure that the material, given that some of it may or may not be deemed by us to be confidential, has not been made...?
I throw that out there, Chair, and I seek guidance from you and thoughts from others. I'm a little reticent to let it go, given what's already transpired.
I don't want to get into a long process, and it's not in any way meant to tell the government it's okay that they seem to be dragging their heels—that's my comment—on delivering these documents. But I am concerned about us closing our eyes to what we've witnessed here and allowing something to happen.
But maybe I'm being overly concerned about it, so I will listen to my colleagues.
Thank you.