Evidence of meeting #21 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was information.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
I have asked to speak. I had my hand up for some five minutes, Mr. Chairman.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Mr. Chairman, on a point of order, you can't just jump in and say you want to say a few more things. We're in the middle of a vote here.
Bloc
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Mr. Tilson, apparently I did not see his hand. I think it's only fair, if he wants to address us, that he have the opportunity to do so.
Am I correct, Monsieur Laforest?
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
With respect, Mr. Chairman, I looked over there, and there was no hand up.
Bloc
Bloc
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
This motion simply asks the Chair to write a letter, since we had previously passed a motion requesting the minister of Justice to table a bill by December 15. If we had said “On December 15“, I would understand the argument made by Mr. Tilson and Mr. Wallace, but that is not the case. We clearly said “by December 15“.
This is why, on any day, since the tabling of the first resolution, the minister of Justice could have brought forth this bill. Today, we simply ask the Chair to write a letter on behalf of the Committee, which is perfectly reasonable. It is even more justified in view of the fact that the government had committed to reform the whole area of accountability and responsibility. We therefore could expect that a large part of Bill C-2 would be about reforming the Access to Information Act. But this has not happened.
In view of this fact and on the initiative of Ms. Lavallée, the Committee passed motions directed to the minister of Justice. Indeed, he appeared before us and stated that, in his view, preparing a new Access to Information Act would not be such a large task.
This is why I have difficulty understanding why these arguments are made today, when our motion simply asks the Chairman to write a letter.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Monsieur Laforest, excusez-moi.
It's now 5:30. Is it the unanimous will of the committee to proceed beyond 5:30?