Milliken OK's Afghan records deal

House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken has approved an agreement between the Conservative government and two opposition parties on giving MPs access to documents related to Afghan detainee transfers.

Milliken's ruling Thursday allows a panel of Conservative, Liberal and Bloc Qubcois MPs to beginexamining thousands ofpages ofuncensored material pertaining to allegations that detainees handed over by Canadian soldiers to Afghan authorities were tortured.

The NDP, which walked away from all-party talks earlier this week,wanted Milliken to rule the memorandum of understanding signed by the other three parties didn't meet the requirements he laid outin a historic April 27 ruling.

But Milliken told the House an "overwhelming majority" of MPs backed the deal and he considered the matter closed.

In April, Milliken ruled the Conservatives breached parliamentary privilege by denying MPs access to uncensored documents, andcalled on all parties to reach a compromise regarding the documents that would respect Parliament's right to review the material, while also ensuring national security concerns are addressed.

The Conservatives and the Canadian military have steadfastly denied that Canadian officials were aware of torture allegations, but the government has refused to make public thousands of pages of documents related to the transfers without major redactions.

Atentative compromise reached last monthcalled for a committee of MPs to take an oath of confidentiality and examine unredacted documents to determine whether the material was relevant to torture allegations.

Under the compromise, documents deemed relevant would then be passed on to a panel of experts who would determine how to release the information to all MPs and the public "without compromising national security."

But on Tuesday, the New Democrats withdrew from talks to finalize the agreement.

NDP MP Jack Harris said the deal prevents MPs from reviewing all material because a panel of jurists will vet documents the government claims to contain matters of cabinet confidentiality or solicitor-client privilege before deciding whether to hand them over to politicians.

Appearing on CBC's Power & Politics, NDP Leader Jack Layton said he rejected the agreement reached between the three other parties becauseit "enshrines secrecy."

Layton said according to the agreement, MPs will not be allowed to discuss anything they have seen, which is "a kind of muzzling that simply is far too restrictive."