Procedure and House Affairs committee  I mean the 4,000 new staff persons for Mr. Head here.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  This book doesn't tell us the whole cost of your crime agenda, even though you can hardly lift the damn thing.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I read the estimates.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Don't tell me what I read and what I don't read.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  --to avoid telling people what they need to know.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It seems to me, Ministers, that instead of the Truth in Sentencing Act, we need a truth in budgeting act. It's like pulling teeth trying to get this information out of you. How could you have compiled this fat a book and failed to include the capital costs of billions of dollars to build new jails, when you knew full well that what we wanted to know was the whole cost of your crime legislation agenda--this suite of bills?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, you are. You're parsing words and splitting hairs--

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's not in here.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madame Legault, the public has a right to know what their government is doing. It's a fundamental cornerstone of our democracy. Yet this government seems obsessed with secrecy. In your own testimony you suggested that enforcement of the ATI Act would be a lot cheaper if the government would in fact err on the side of the spirit of the act, which is to reveal information and to share information, rather than secrecy.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Although you've now referred one matter to the RCMP--

Procedure and House Affairs committee  But I can just point out, five years into this government's regime, that they in fact rode into Ottawa on the high horse of accountability. They were the ones who were going to implement John Reid's open government act. It was the one that was committed to freedom of information.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Cost is only one of the barriers, and I have one example. The Treaty One First Nations, in my community of Winnipeg, were trying to find out about the status of the Kapyong military barracks. They paid their $5 up front and then there was a $780 surcharge for research. That's only one example where stalling, delaying, overcharging, etc., are barriers thrown in the way of those who would like to exercise their right to know.