Mr. Speaker, the concern is that the line goes from the CSEC operations to the commissioner to the minister. These are all extraparliamentary; they are part of the administration of government. However, we are talking about parliamentary oversight, the members of Parliament who are elected, and not just the minister. The minister is elected for a riding, but when he sits in cabinet, in our system of government, he is the government. The cabinet is the government. He is the executive and we are the legislature. Also, other parliaments have parliamentary oversight, but we do not. That is the problem.
I would also quote the former director of CSEC:
There’s no question that CSEC is very, very biased towards the less the public knows the better….
He is proud of that fact, and it seems to have worked, because we very seldom see CSEC on the front page of the newspapers.
Well, that has changed. I think Canadians, because they are aware of this situation, want to see more parliamentary oversight.