Mr. Clement, we're pleased to have you here as the President of the Treasury Board.
I can tell you're very proud of this particular project.
You'll forgive me with all due respect if I say that people have to be judged by what they do, not by what they say, and there's a cavernous gulf between the lofty principles which you're espousing here about freedom of information and the actual practices of this government, where information is hoarded and rationed out in little tidbits. I think the black shroud of secrecy will be the single defining hallmark of the Harper administration. So we find that this emphasis on open data and trying to give the impression that, some time in the future, information will be available by default is really a bit of a diversionary tactic, because nothing could be further from the truth.
Let me point out, within your own remarks, the first bullet point of the five principles you've adopted refers to recognizing that there are legitimate reasons that some data cannot be released. How are we to know that you're not just failing to release data because it could be embarrassing to the government? With your history of muzzling scientists, being virtually anti-information, against the long-form census, and so on, I mean you get to decide what gets released and when. I strongly suspect if there's anything that could be potentially embarrassing to your government, it's not going to be your default position to put it up voluntarily and give your opponents a stick to beat you with. Who's going to be the arbitrator? Is it going to be up to the Information Commissioner of Canada or the public to be able to appeal for the release of data when this nirvana of open data in your mind becomes a reality?