The Liberals, Bloc Quebecois and Conservatives have reached a deal on the handling of sensitive Afghan detainee documents, but the NDP wants no part of it.
All parties met for several weeks to try to work out an agreement on the contentious issue. The deal, reached this morning, would see a three-person panel of "eminent jurists" review 40,000 documents over the summer, after being sworn to secrecy.
The panel would determine which documents can be publicly disclosed without jeopardizing national security. The panel would also decide how the papers could be released to a select group of MPs: in their entirety, summarized or censored.
While the Tories and Bloc have not said who they want to represent them on the panel, former Liberal leader Stephane Dion will represent the Liberals, with MP Bryon Wilfert as the alternate.
But the NDP says the process won't work. It wants, instead, a public inquiry.
"The whole process, as far as we're concerned, does not get at the truth and will not get at the truth and we will not sign on to it," New Democrat MP Jack Harris said following Tuesday's meetings.
He said documents the government claims to be matters of cabinet confidentiality or solicitor-client privilege will be kept from MPs. A panel of jurists will vet the material and decide if MPs can see it. That leaves MPs out of the loop and is unacceptable, Harris said.
House Speaker Peter Milliken ruled last month that Parliament has a right to see the classified documents, but told the parties to work together to find a compromise that would satisfy the government's national-security concerns.
New Democrat MP Joe Comartin said Tuesday's deal "violates both the spirit and the wording" of the Speaker's ruling, and said it marked a "dark day for parliamentary democracy."
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said he's pleased that an agreement has been reached.
"I'm confident that this is a process that's going to work. All the documents will be made available," he told reporters on Parliament Hill Tuesday morning.
"This agreement on the one hand protects national security and the men and women in uniform. On the other hand, it's consistent with the Speaker's ruling that MPs, under certain circumstances, have a right to look at documentation in this area. So it's a question of balancing that out."
As for the NDP's position, Nicholson says it appears to him that the party planned to announce their opposition to the agreement before the memorandum of understanding was even completed.
"My advice to the NDP is… at least have a look at the document before you call a press conference to say you don't like the agreement."
Liberal MP Ralph Goodale said the agreement means the Conservatives will no longer have unilateral control over which documents are released and which are kept secret.
"We believe the agreement properly respects the sovereignty of Parliament, it respects the rights of members of Parliament to have information so they can call the government to account," Goodale told reporters.
"The government has surrendered its unilateral and arbitrary control over this information."
He added that the agreement also has built in safeguards "so there can be no accusation that in some way national security or the safety of our troops in the field is in any way endangered."
The documents relate to allegations that prisoners were routinely tortured after they were turned over to Afghan authorities by Canadian soldiers.
Opposition MPs want to know what the government knew about the allegations and when, and what action it then took.
With reports from The Canadian Press
