Yes, and that's because those were the terms of the motion passed by this committee. Otherwise, I'd be able to bring this amendment forward before the House at report stage. That's just to clarify things for people who might have forgotten the terms of the motion.
I just want to briefly say I'm very pleased with the creation of a commissioner. It's my belief, and I hope the government will consider, as my amendment would do, giving the option of the person's being full-time.
In the course of Bill C-51 being examined in the 41st Parliament, we had the advantage of hearing from former Supreme Court justice Mr. Justice John Major, who chaired the Air India inquiry. His advice wasn't taken by the committee at that time, but I believe that a lot of what he said before the committee on Bill C-51 is reflected in the creation of an intelligence commissioner. Mr. Justice John Major, testifying then—and I participated as actively as I was allowed in those committee hearings—said that Bill C-51 was fatally flawed because there was no “pinnacle review”, that was his term, that you needed to have someone like an intelligence czar, someone in a security position, for direct oversight of all the disparate intelligence agencies that we have within Canada so that they do not trip over each other.
He spoke to an issue that Glen Motz mentioned earlier. He said it was human nature to keep information from other agencies. He said that his experience in the Air India inquiry was that the RCMP didn't want to share their information with CSIS, and that CSIS didn't want to share their information with the RCMP. He was very clear on that.
Given the importance of this position—and I certainly support its creation in Bill C-59—I would urge the government, given the extraordinary position of studying this now, before second reading, to seriously consider bringing forward a motion before the bill reaches third reading to allow the intelligence commissioner to be full-time as well, or part-time, at the option of the government.