Mr. Miller, thanks for the question.
I was referring, though my mind was going a little foggy at that precise moment, to this element of the Security of Information Act, the special operational information that's written into Bill C-22, as an area that could be excluded from the committee's access.
The reason I say be careful about this is that, as Mr. Clement indicated, this really is a kitchen sink of potential exemptions—not that the government would always seek to use it, but the potential is there—and frankly I don't see the need for it. It rather overlaps with some things that are already excluded in section 14, and I think there could be a simpler formula for indicating the grounds on which a minister would exclude access to information; for example, the kinds of things Mr. Atkey is talking about, information that would be injurious or prejudicial to the operations of elements of the Canadian security and intelligence community. I think that's more clearly understood.
I should also say, just thinking back to the passage of the Anti-terrorism Act—I don't know how many members were around the table in this place back in 2001—that I tried to make a little bit of noise in 2001 when testifying on the Anti-terrorism Act saying that this special operational information and that whole Security of Information Act was not right, but my protestations did not get any attention. We're not going to go back to it now, but I don't think it's a good idea to import it into Bill C-22.