I have a question that I raised with the first panel. If you go to clause 2 of the bill, it reads in part, “This section applies despite any other provision of this Act or any other Act of Parliament”.
The question I posed to the last panel was to nail down the importance of that, given that when we are in periods of crisis or when there is a terrorist attack or some kind of national disaster or something like the October Crisis in Quebec, when these crackdowns happen, journalists are often collateral damage. How important is a piece like that in a bill like this to make sure there aren't any loopholes that allow a crackdown later on from other legislation or something like Bill C-51, for example?