Mr. Speaker, I can make clear to the hon. member and to the House that the government does not question for a moment the right and the jurisdiction of the inquiry to look into the whole question of cover-up. That is well within the mandate of the commission.
The issue that was addressed yesterday was evidentiary in nature. Counsel for the government took a position with respect to the production of certain tapes and transcripts. That material has now been handed over and made available to the commission which has made a ruling in respect of it.
Last August the commission had occasion to consider the ambit of its mandate and in a written ruling released August 3 of last year, it expressly found it had the jurisdiction under its mandate to look into allegations of cover-up with respect to the incidents in Somalia. That is a position with which this government is in full agreement. From day to day at the hearing, we co-operate fully in assisting the commission to do that job.