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Last week, the House of Commons began debate on Bill C-22 — a measure which is “long overdue” according to Wesley Wark, a national security professor at the University of Ottawa.

This legislation creates a special committee of members of Parliament and senators with extraordinary access to classified information, and a mandate to ensure that the government is effective at keeping Canadians safe, while equally safeguarding their rights and freedoms. It’s a major boost in the accountability of those responsible for our collective security.

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The committee will be independent and non-partisan. Only four of its nine members (seven MPs and two senators) will be from the government. Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries are not allowed. It will have the resources to get the job done. It will set its own agenda and report when it sees fit.

Unlike existing national security review bodies, it will not be siloed to one agency — the committee will be able to examine any department or agency responsible for any aspect of national security or intelligence, going wherever the evidence takes them.