Hon. Jim Quinn: Thank you for your speech. The last few weeks we’ve heard about food security and the various risks that are involved in the agriculture industry in Canada. Last week, I was the host of a panel in New Brunswick where one of the senior people from Nutrien was present and it was on exactly this topic. The one thing I walked away with was the impression of the challenges that our agriculture industry face, whether it be passing the family farm on to kids who may not want that farm or any number of issues. To me, this bill seems to be of absolute fundamental importance to food security. Do I have that wrong? This is something that we can do today — in this session of Parliament — to help secure the future of our agriculture industry and our farms.

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?