I take the advice of national security. I take the advice of those who work with other security agencies. And on the basis of national security, and for the importance of maintaining proper relationships with other security agencies, with our allies, a decision was made to retain a tiny portion of the information.
Now it's very important to note that Justice O'Connor, though he does not share that view with us, did say that nothing of the information that was being held stopped or restricted in any way the report he put out here, his criticisms, or the recommendations. So nothing has restricted in any way his ability to come out with some very good recommendations.
I just have to say, when looking at this information, that when it comes to national security, the risk to Canadians, and the risk to some of those involved in our security agencies, I will have to do what I think is right and make the recommendation that a very tiny portion of this information, which could be harmful not to Mr. Arar--Mr. Arar has been given a clear assurance from us that we want things cleared for him.... But I am taking that position.
As a matter of fact, we're taking a statutory position, and we have advised Justice O'Connor of this. We will take the necessary steps, through a court order, to protect what we believe are national security interests. Now if that proceeds to court, then the courts obviously will decide and it will have to stay with that. So that's why we're taking that particular position; it's in the interest of the security of Canadians.
As far as parliamentary oversight, as Mr. Comartin, I think, knows, Justice O'Connor has said he wants to come back, and is coming back, with a second report. Much of it has to do with policies, but a significant portion of it will have to do with the question of parliamentary oversight.
I have indicated publicly, even when I was a member of the opposition, that I want to see some kind of oversight mechanism. It was also part of our campaign commitment coming into the last election, and it is still the Prime Minister's commitment. We want to see proper parliamentary oversight by an all-party group.
Some around this table have brought forward excellent recommendations on that in the past. We're going to proceed with that at some point, but I think in deference to Justice O'Connor, we have to hear his views on it. We'll continue to proceed in that particular direction.