Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for the statement that he has made and the document that he has just tabled.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking you for the landmark ruling that you made on April 27 about the rights of Parliament and the rights of Canadians to transparency, and specifically the right to all of the documents pertaining to detainees in Afghanistan. The parties have been hard at work, and I believe at work in good faith, over the last two and a half weeks to fulfill your expectations. We have been and will continue to be vigilant to ensure that the spirit and intent of your ruling is properly fulfilled.
In your ruling you said that Parliament has an absolute right to see the documents and that the government must comply. Why? So that members of Parliament are equipped with the information necessary to hold the government to account.
Mr. Speaker, you also said strongly and properly that national security is of vital importance to all of us, government and opposition alike, and that we need to find the appropriate means to distinguish between information which is relevant and should be disclosed and national security which must not be compromised. We believe that we have found the way in the document that the minister just tabled.
There remains, of course, work to be done to translate today's agreement in principle into a formal and comprehensive memorandum of understanding among all parties in the House. We expect that detailed work will be done accurately and faithfully, respecting the spirit and intent of your ruling and the gist of the work that has gone on over the course of the last two and a half weeks.
Let me make one key point in that regard. The participants in the process that we are setting up, the MPs and the others who are involved, must be, and must be seen to be, of the highest calibre integrity and intent. They are being assigned a profoundly serious responsibility on behalf of 308 members of this House and, more importantly, on behalf of millions of Canadians. They must be selected carefully and they must not fail.
On behalf of my colleague, the hon. member for Beauséjour, and the opposition whip, who participated with me in the discussions that have gone on, I close by thanking all of the participants in the talks over the last two and a half weeks who have all tried, I believe, to get it right on this most important topic. We still have important work to do, but so far so good. I think we have tried to fulfill the expectations that you have placed on us.