Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I think you will agree we have had testimony that leading authorities on the subject do not consider the financial advice to be a cabinet confidence after the bill has been tabled in the House of Commons. So I'd like to know, by what justification do these ministers

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In that period of time, Mr. Chairman, I think even you would agree that the people of Canada have the right to know what their government is doing with their money.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's a fundamental cornerstone of our democracy. They know the whole cost because it was presented to them in cabinet memoranda. We've heard testimony that that information is no longer a cabinet confidence once the bill has been tabled in Parliament. The leading authorities on

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's interesting. Thank you.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you. I would just like to correct or clarify things. The people of Canada use the Access to Information Act to get information about what their government is doing. Parliament is not subject to the act. We tell the government what to do. Parliament is not subject to the A

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. If it's the collective will of Parliament that this information shall be released, even if it isn't in the best interests of the country, frankly, that's when you would have to hope that Parliament uses its collective wisdom to not put the country at risk under national secu

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It is excluded rather than exempt.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's except for our current ad hoc committee on the Afghan papers.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's like the Rumpelstiltskin defence, where if you don't ask the exact right question, you don't get any answer at all. I mean, poor Scotty there did his best to put together a comprehensive question, and you skated all around it by answering every question except what we need

Procedure and House Affairs committee  What we know is your guy--

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You are splitting hairs to avoid what we really need to know. Mr. Head there is going to hire 4,000 new prison guards, but is that figure in here? Your $2 billion for building new jails isn't in here. There will be 4,000 new staff persons. Every other government agency is cuttin

Procedure and House Affairs committee  How much will that cost us?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I mean the 4,000 new staff persons for Mr. Head here.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  How much?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, you wouldn't.