Chief Superintendent Burchill, I'm going to hearken back to a lot of the testimony, which was that we are often going on fishing expeditions and that we have 10 service providers and just need to confirm whether somebody is a provider. We're going to look at amendments within that, but my impression from hearing from the witnesses is that they said, “We need both parts.” If witnesses and law enforcement want both parts, they clearly want one of them.
My point here to the committee, to Parliament and to Canadians is a very clear one: If part of the equation is part 1—which I think we can get to common ground on—and it would help, I don't think it's a stretch for officials to say, “Yes, that would help us.” Now, you can't say, “Please pass it alone.” I get that, but what I'm trying to get to—and perhaps through silence we're getting there; I don't know—is this: Why wouldn't we give you some of the powers you're seeking when we can come to common ground?
On part 2, we're nowhere near common ground. The government came in, and the minister sat, I believe, where Ms. Gibner is sitting. I asked flat out, “Will you address encryption?” We got answers like, “We're open to amendments.” Now here we are, three weeks later, and the minister is holding a press conference, not to get asked questions but to tell Canadians, “Whoa. Wait a minute. We're not just open to amendments. We're going to put forward amendments on encryption.”
Three weeks ago it was, “Well, we'll see. We'll do as we please.” That was the gist of it. Then we heard testimony for three weeks, and Canadians rightly created an opinion of the legislation in their own heads. Once that happens and Canadians aren't convinced, as a member of His Majesty's loyal opposition, it's not our job to plug those holes, those gaps.
I've spoken long enough on this. I know you can't answer the question, but if part 1 is going to help you, I don't know why we're not passing it and dealing with Mr. Mantle's subamendment within that point and Ms. DeBellefeuille's amendment within that point. I think we can get to common ground.
I'll leave it at that. Thank you.