I will take that question as referring to the limits to the contents of reports, which are found in the bill, and expand it a little to the issue of limitations, either to the mandate or to access by the committee or to what would be reported, which I think has been the subject of considerable discussion before this committee.
The bill, in a number of places, clauses 8, 14, 16, and 22, and you're referring to clause 22 in the report of the committee, says that information, the disclosure of which would be injurious to national security, would have certain limiting effects to, one, the mandate of the committee, two, to the information that the parliamentary committee should have access to, and three, to what the committee would be able to report on.
The committee of parliamentarians should not be subject to limits in terms of its mandate in relation to information that would be injurious to national security. The committee should have a broad, comprehensive mandate. That's the first point.
In terms of access to information by the committee, the limits in clauses 14 and 16 are too broad. There are too many limits. Maybe some of these limits are desirable, for instance, the protection of sources or witnesses who deserve protection. I don't believe that it would be necessary for the committee of parliamentarians to do a proper review of the issues to be reviewed. They don't need to know the identities of sources of information or witnesses to do a proper job. Therefore, in clauses 14 and 16, I suggest that the list of exceptions or limitations should be reduced, but there may be legitimacy to some limits.
Coming finally to your question about the reporting, that's the toughest question, because I think the committee should have access to everything, more or less, and should certainly have a mandate that is quite broad. However, regarding what the committee would report, there is an issue in terms of what should be reported publicly. Care needs to be taken so as not to report on some details that would indicate to the subjects of investigation, the national security agencies, certain methods of operations, and so on and so forth. For reporting, there is a better argument for protection.
My last point on that would be that the bill proposes that the executive, that the Prime Minister, direct what would be protected. I think you should give some thought as to whether the committee should have more latitude, discretion, authority, on that question. Conceptually, it is justified that some limits to what details are reported be there. I'm not convinced that the decision-making authority should rest with the executive.