Mr. Speaker, let me start with a quick response to my hon. colleague, the House leader of the Bloc Québécois. He seems to make the point, as others have done before him today, that the House order of December 10 is something that our government must comply with. I would point out to the hon. member and all members here that we are disputing that.
As I have stated on several occasions in the House and outside of the House, it is the government's position that we are complying with the House order, meaning that we are producing every legally available document. However, we maintain the position that national security interests, and documents relating to national security, and documents that may be injurious to national security will continue to be protected by this government.
The House order of December 10 did not even contain one reference to the concerns we have about national security. The House order of December 10 merely stated that all documents, without respect or regard to national security, should be tabled. We are disputing that. Hence, we now have a situation where the Speaker will be ruling on several questions of privilege regarding that very point.
What must the government, in the opinion of the Speaker, do in regard to the production of documents? This is a very fundamental question. It is a constitutional question. That is why the Chair will be responding in due course, once it has heard all arguments from the government. However, to suggest that we must comply with the December 10 order of the House is absolutely incorrect. That order, quite frankly, is under review right now.
I would also point out once again, in response to all of the arguments that the documents tabled today contained redactions, that all of the documents we are producing on a regular basis, the documents we have produced in the past and will continue to produce in the future, are being examined by independent, arm's-length, non-partisan government officials who only have two points of interest in their deliberations: whether or not the application of law is being followed, and whether national security provisions are being observed and protected.
The documents produced today have contained redactions. In the opinion of those non-partisan, independent public officials, redactions are necessary. Until we hear otherwise or other arguments, or other rulings from the Chair, we will continue to produce the documents in a similar fashion.
My hon. colleague, the opposition House leader, asked whether the documents we tabled today have in fact been examined by Justice Iacobucci. No, they have not. Justice Iacobucci has not vetted these. However, what we have stated and what is in fact occurring as we speak is that Justice Iacobucci will be examining all documents. His purpose is to examine the redactions to determine whether they are proper.
Therefore, the documents tabled today will be reviewed by Justice Iacobucci in due course. He will be advising our government, and in due course his opinion will be presented to the House for all members. However, it is an independent review by Justice Iacobucci, who will be determining whether or not the redactions are in fact proper. That is the argument we have been advancing time and time again.
Let Justice Iacobucci do his work. The position this government has taken is that redactions done by an independent, non-partisan group of officials are proper. For the opposition members to say they want to ignore all of that, to ignore 140 years of parliamentary tradition and demand the documents in an unredacted form now, without regard for national security, is improper, quite frankly.
We wait with great interest to hear from the Speaker on his interpretation of our position as well as the opposition's positions. Mr. Speaker, I agree with your contention and implore all of my colleagues to let the Speaker examine these arguments carefully and make a ruling. I am sure he will do it in a most expeditious manner.