I move the amendment, Mr. Chair.
As we know, Bill C‑26 enables the government to issue confidential orders applicable to telecommunications service providers. While confidentiality can certainly be justified in certain situations, it shouldn't be the default rule. A number of civil liberties organizations have told us as much.
These organizations recommend a mandatory Federal Court order as a check and balance against government overreach. This could be an effective way to ensure that the government isn't hiding disproportionately intrusive actions. It adds some checks and balances to the legislation.
I'll read amendment BQ‑2, which proposes an amendment by replacement:
(2) On application by the Minister, the Federal Court may, by order, prohibit any person from disclosing some or all of the order's contents if it is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that such disclosure could be injurious to international relations, national defence or national security or endanger the safety of any person.
I'm wondering about part of line 3 of the amendment. The wording is “disclosing some or all of the order's contents.” That sounds funny to me. Again, I think that the legislative clerks are the experts on how to write this. If it sounds good in the legislative language, so much the better. I just wanted to make sure.
I have a question for the officials before we move on with the discussion.
I want to make sure that adopting this amendment wouldn't add lengthy delays to the process. Would it?