I'm a little taken aback. Perhaps some finer points escape me. The purpose of the motion that was unanimously adopted by this committee on Thursday November 3, 2005 was to instruct the Justice Department -- the wording was different, but the meaning was the same -- to consider the advisability of introducing legislation, not a draft bill, in the House before December 15, 2005 based on the provisions of the act and the proposed amendments. It was understood that this would be presented by Commissioner Reid.
I see no reason for a draft bill when we're perhaps at the stage of drafting a bill. The proposed changes to the Access to Information Act have been amply discussed, in my view. FIrst, we had the Bryden committee. I've been told a Senate committee also examined this issue. The committee has done many studies and analyses. In addition, the Conservative government recently tabled a discussion paper.
I think the time has come for the government to table a bill to this committee. Then, we'd have something concrete to debate, not mere recommendations, guidelines and suggested topics of discussion.