I find it dispiriting that we have members insulting me. That underscores the tone we have and why this is so disappointing.
We have someone like Mr. Ruff, who served his country in the Canadian Armed Forces for 25 years, has a very good understanding of matters of national security, has received security clearance at the highest level, has held that for a number of years and sits on NSICOP. Therefore, he has a unique perspective as a member of Parliament. We have certain members who don't have that background, don't have that experience and don't have that knowledge, and they didn't even have the courtesy to talk to him. They table-dropped a bunch of subamendments that have nothing to do with this bill. I will submit that there's one basis for that. They don't want this bill to pass. They would rather gut the bill.
It's passing strange for a party like the NDP, which has never been in government and hopefully never will be in government, to go against members of Parliament being able to get their foot in the door to apply for secret security clearance. I thought the NDP was all about accountability. I guess, now, under the leadership of sellout Jagmeet Singh—