I know we've had a lot of debate on this.
I just want to say once again that there are some differences between what we're talking about here in terms of warrants in this section and those used under section 8 of the charter. When we talk about search and seizure, I don't know of any other warrants that are issued, beyond search and seizure, that look for the reasonable limits of the charter. When we're talking about this section, we keep talking about warrants that involve the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a whole, but I don't know that there are any others that are ever used in the courts on a regular basis, other than under section 8, in terms of search and seizure.
Second, the purpose of the warrant in the Criminal Code under section 8 is precisely to bring matters into court so that the way the warrant has been used can be judged, and those who use the warrant can be held accountable to the courts.
The problem, when we're talking about CSIS conducting secret activities authorized by a warrant, is that the purpose of those warrants is not to bring something to court; it's to disrupt an activity. Those warrants will never have a chance to be judged again on whether they've been used correctly or in accordance to the law.
The witness who said that most clearly was former Supreme Court Justice John Major. He said there is no backhand supervision on these warrants. That makes them quite different. In my opinion, and the opinion of the NDP, that is why this warrant section cannot be fixed and why we will be seeking to have these removed from the bill altogether.