Mr. Speaker, I am surprised at the remarks by the member, who is the chair of the public safety committee.
The question is not about security. The question is about whether the government and the intelligence agencies can be trusted with respect to protecting privacy. That is the issue.
All our partners have a parliamentary oversight committee. It is not, as the member suggests, a duplication of what officials do; it is Parliament accepting its responsibility to do a review on behalf of Canadians in a proactive way, so as to ensure that the intelligence-gathering agencies are doing what they are mandated to do and do not go beyond those measures.
The member should know that in terms of the all-parliamentary committee, the current Minister of National Defence was on that committee, as was the current Minister of State for Finance. They wanted it then; why do they not want it now?
Why would the chair of the public safety committee not look at this with some independent thought instead of taking the messages that all the others over there in that party have been portraying all day long? Will he not think about it independently and give Canadians the robust viewpoint that should be seen?