Okay. Again, we were not expecting to be referring to that motion, so we really haven't had the benefit of seeing it before.
I'm very concerned about the independence of the CRA. Parliament does not direct the RCMP on what investigations it does, nor do we direct the CRA on who it investigates. I think it's very important to honour the independence of the CRA.
I know Ms. Shanahan has referred to how anybody can go to the CRA and say, “I suggest you look here.” As an MP, yes, I'm a person, but I personally would not do that as a member of Parliament, because it would look like I might be trying to centre out someone or an organization.
The independence of the CRA is so critical to our Income Tax Act. The privacy provisions of the Income Tax Act and the CRA are fundamental. We cannot have people feeling that if someone had a vendetta against them or against some foundation or whatever, Parliament would be able to say, “You need to investigate this group” for whatever reason. I guess an individual could even not provide a reason. They'd just say, “You know, I think maybe you should look at this.” I'm very uncomfortable with that.
The other concern I have is that the public accounts committee is, traditionally, the rear-view mirror. We look at what has happened to see if there's any learning going forward. We generally focus on the Auditor General's reports on things that she's investigated, so I'm a bit confused about this final point here, in that we're asking about future documents that haven't even been generated yet, as opposed to things that are historical records, albeit confidential in this case.
Those are the concerns that I have.
I think we're treading a fine line here when we, as Parliament, are directing the CRA on where it should look, because I think the separation—we could call it church and state—of Parliament and independent agencies like the CRA and the RCMP.... The reason the public can have confidence in them and their objectivity is that it's hands-off from Parliament. We can look at what they find, but we can't tell them where to look, and that's my fundamental concern with this amendment.