Milliken ruling "clear as mud" (4)

The ruling has just been announced by the House Speaker and so we get this as the earliest report on the net from the CBC (there will be a lot more soon):

The federal government breached parliamentary privilege with its refusal to produce uncensored documents related to the treatment of Afghan detainees and must provide the material to MPs within two weeks, Speaker Peter Milliken has ruled.

During his lengthy ruling Tuesday afternoon in the House, Milliken called on House leaders, ministers and MPs to find a “workable accommodation” to satisfy all parties “without compromising the security and confidentially contained.”

Milliken ruled Parliament had a right to order the government to produce uncensored documents to members of a special committee examining torture allegations, and that its order was “clear” and procedurally acceptable.

“It is the view of the chair that accepting an unconditional authority of the executive to censor the information provided to Parliament would, in fact, jeopardize the very separation of powers that is purported to lie at the heart of our parliamentary system and the independence of its constituent parts,” he told the House.

“Furthermore, it risks diminishing the inherent privileges of the House and its members which have been earned and must be safeguarded.”

Last December, the Commons passed an opposition motion ordering the government to produce unredacted documents pertaining to the Canadian transfer of detainees to Afghan custody. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has refused to comply with that order, citing national security concerns.

In response, MPs from all three opposition parties submitted questions of privilege to Milliken last month that called for several government ministers to be held in contempt of Parliament, arguing that the House’s “supreme” power over the prime minister is a basic tenet of democracy.

[Source]

I watched the speech and I did not get the CBC viewpoint at all. It was 45 minutes long and basically I walked away with the impression that Milliken, in very verbose detail, said “Grow up children and sort this out. You have two weeks.” Other than that I found his ruling a confusing jumble of “legalese” which is going to satisfy nobody.

I’m looking for an online transcript of the ruling now — so far, nothing. If anyone comes across it please post the link in the comment area.

See Also:

Troop security trumps release of detainee documents, military officer says

Notes:

Harper was absent from QP today as were “Iggy”, Duceppe and Layton. Something is going on and Don Martin may just have called this situation right. It works for me. I’ve heard enough of the BS and if Harper wants to go to the polls to protect our troops I support him.

Let’s get it on.

Update:

“Old Jack” is “top of the pile” (laughing).

The Ruling:

MacLean’s has it. Please disregard my comments regarding the search for transcript. Ruling found. I haven’t checked to see if it has been altered but I doubt it.