Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The committee has received an access to information request from the Public Service Commission. The committee must reply by February 21. Originally, the commission received a request for it to provide all the documents that it had prepared for its appearance before you last December 10. The commission appeared at that time to present its annual report and other audit reports.
The reason why I bring this to the committee today is that, last autumn, the House adopted new rules for handling these kinds of requests, and for the way they are handled by parliamentary committees.
I examined the documentation that involved the committee. Essentially, it comes down to a routine exchange of emails between the clerk and the Public Service Commission’s person responsible for parliamentary affairs, about the date of the appearance and confirming that they were going to appear. So my recommendation to the committee was to authorize me to publish the documentation and make it available. As I said, it is a routine exchange of emails between the clerk and the parliamentary affairs officer at the Public Service Commission.
Under the new rules passed by the House last fall, we are required to consult the committee and seek its approval on the matter.