Let me just begin by saying that in short course I will be moving an amendment that I think does reflect some of the testimony we heard from the likes of Professor Forcese and Mr. Atkey.
I had an exchange with Mr. Forcese about his use of the metaphor of the “triple lock”. I think it really misconstrues a proper understanding of what ministerial discretion is, and it conflates discretion with automatic exclusion.
You can't have an automatic triple lock if there is some proper exercise of ministerial discretion. I think he acknowledged that in our exchange. As public trust and confidence are enhanced over time as this committee get its footing, even Professor Forcese did take a moment to say, in evidence, that he understood the minister would have the ability to exercise his or her discretion, under clause 8 or clause 16, in a manner consistent with the purpose and the broad mandate of this committee as drafted.
The other thing I would say is that in the evidence given by Professor Forcese and Mr. Atkey, there were moments.... We wouldn't want to see an ongoing national security activity potentially compromised by sharing this information with the committee. I don't see that as necessarily interfering with the mandate of the committee, although I accept that the committee will be security-cleared.
If we are going to be referring to the stated evidence saying that it has to be balanced, certainly completely deleting any ministerial discretion under clause 8 would not be consistent with what this committee heard.