Senator Gold: That is a very good question. The short answer is no. The parliamentary review committee will not be required to have the level of security clearance necessary to review confidential security information. We have an institution, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, or NSICOP, where the members are cleared and do have access to such information. Information of that kind is shared with those members on an as-needed basis.

I was referring, Senator Patterson, to those regulations that, by law, are not to be published in Canada Gazette, but to make sure that all regulations — even those under the Statutory Instruments Act that are exempted from publication — are nonetheless reviewed by this committee, which, if I recall, has to take an oath of secrecy but does not otherwise have the security clearance that would be required for intelligence information to be shared. I hope that answers your question.

Hon. Jim Quinn: Honourable senators, my question is for Senator Gold. I wanted to reach back to Senator Patterson’s and Senator Marshall’s questions with respect to the role of the committee and the types of information that would be made available. We know that there’s ongoing, hourly contact with various officials to see what the current situation is. So that type of risk assessment is introducing new information on an ongoing basis. Much of that information, as you’ve indicated, would probably be classified as confidential. Yet my understanding of the committee’s work would be that the Statutory Instruments Regulations will apply, which means that section 15 in that particular piece of paper will list a very confidential type of information.

My question really comes down to this. This committee is important for all parliamentarians to have confidence in the work that they’re undertaking. But wouldn’t the confidence of parliamentarians be enhanced knowing that they have access to confidential information that will better inform their work and, in turn, better inform parliamentarians?