Health committee  Mr. Chair and honourable member, if you look at the motion and the previous motions, you will see no guarantees in any of the wording that the materials provided will be managed in a way that's consistent with the security required given their level of classification, so I have n

Health committee  Mr. Chair and honourable member, you've asked me several times for an opinion about the Speaker's opinion. This is not an area in which I am an expert. I have tried to avoid even appearing to have such an opinion, so I would say, as I have previously, that I don't have an opinion

Health committee  I've been consistently making this argument, and I'm making the same argument today.

Health committee  Mr. Chair and honourable member, these are complex areas in which I am advised because I'm not an expert, obviously. My understanding is what I'm legally able to do, and nothing in the motions heretofore has made me not legally liable for the choice that I'm being asked to make.

Health committee  Mr. Chair and honourable member, do you believe that the motion of the House and the ruling of the Speaker provide me with immunity from the two pieces of legislation?

Health committee  Mr. Chair and honourable member, as I have been trying to explain, as a public servant, I'm bound by law and I have to follow the law. If the advice I'm receiving involves actions that put me offside of the law, I'm—

Health committee  I'm receiving advice from the normal sources, from the advisers—

Health committee  If I may just rephrase that, I'm getting advice on whether I'm able to release the documents, sir, and—

Health committee  The Department of Justice are the people who provide us advice in this area.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and honourable member, I answered from the position of my ability to provide those documents, which I believe is material.

Health committee  Mr. Chair and honourable member, it was a committee of parliamentarians who had the necessary classification and ability to handle secret documents. I provided all documents in an unredacted form to that committee in the hope that would address the intent. However, obviously, sub

Health committee  Mr. Chair and honourable member, you are exactly right. This has been characterized as if it were an opinion of mine. In fact, as I've mentioned, I'm trying to follow the law, and laws also circumscribe what security-related material can be released. There are legal and also secu

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, honourable member. You're very right. When it comes to security, there's open source, there are soft sources and then there's specific intelligence. Materials related to things around a level 4 lab are of interest to many parties. In my expe

Health committee  I've had no conversations with anybody in the Prime Minister's Office on this topic. I have not had discussions with my minister's office with respect to the intent to comply on Monday.

Health committee  Mr. Chair and honourable member, if I can have the time to respond to this question uninterrupted, I would like to try to take it on, since the member has asked it several times.