Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), although the chief legislative counsel of the Department of Justice certifies that government bills have been examined, they are reviewed by legislative counsel within the legislation section as well as counsel throughout the department; their review is continuous from the point of policy development to their introduction in Parliament. Review begins when departmental officials bring the subject matter of the legislation to the attention of Justice counsel.
With regard to (b) to (f), a wide variety of counsel throughout the department with varying levels of expertise, years of call, and qualifications have worked on the various bills that were introduced in the 40th and 41st Parliaments. As a term of employment, all Department of Justice counsel must be members in good standing of a provincial or territorial bar.
With regard to (g) and (h), review is an ongoing process, which culminates in the certification, in accordance with section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms examination regulations, that government bills have been examined. Once a bill has been introduced in or presented to the House of Commons, the Clerk of the House of Commons sends two copies of it to the chief legislative counsel, who then certifies on behalf of the Deputy Minister of Justice that the bill has been examined in accordance with section 4.1 of the Department of Justice Act. One of the certified copies is then transmitted to the Clerk of the House of Commons. The other is transmitted to the Clerk of the Privy Council Office.
With regard to (i), over the course of the 40th and 41st Parliaments, counsel in the Department of Justice routinely used a wide variety of doctrinal and jurisprudential sources in conducting legal analysis relevant to government bills.
With regard to (j), the Department of Justice counsel use a number of standard and specialized legal databases such as CANLII, as well as a number of internally developed databases, in order to conduct its review of legislation.
With regard to (k), this information is protected by solicitor-client privilege.
With regard to (l) to (q), the requested details pertaining to the review of bills constitute legal advice protected by solicitor-client privilege.
With regard to (r) and (s), there are no positions dedicated to this review since, as stated in the response to (a) above, it is done by counsel throughout the Department of Justice as part of other employment responsibilities.
With regard to (t) and (u), as noted above, the review process is an ongoing one that is conducted by counsel throughout the Department of Justice. Appropriate quality assurance measures are employed as required.
With regard to (v), review material is protected by solicitor-client privilege.
With regard to (w), this information is protected by solicitor-client privilege.