Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the team here today from the Office of the Information Commissioner.
I just have one question, because all the questions I had noted have come out from other members, and they've been answered quite well.
I have to say, in regard to the progress you've made this last year, that the team in your office has done a tremendous job in dealing with a high volume of investigations and whittling down the backlog, getting out in front of this in terms of education. So I really hand it to you, and I wish you well in the year ahead as you continue to pursue these important objectives.
I'd also say that it gives me great confidence in your abilities--all your team--in the sense that you faced some pretty pointed questions here this morning and answered them with great professionalism. So I take some confidence in the fact that you're on top of this and you understand well and execute the objective role of this office of Parliament in keeping with those important tenets of both access to information and privacy, for the right reasons, in the execution of your work.
Now to my question. As the chairman also mentioned, the report you submitted here was, I thought, very well done. One of the items I came across, though, was in respect to your role. I was a bit surprised--I think it was a bit towards the end of the summer--when we received a special report to Parliament from the Office of the Information Commissioner. It was a rather comprehensive précis on the proposed amendments to the Federal Accountability Act, a very thorough document, set out at a time when the office was backlogged and going through some administrative pressures.
How does producing a document and a study like that fit into the mandate? Presumably this was an offer of advice and suggestion to Parliament. I don't know, I can't say what its origins were. Is that something that your office would just decide to do? Where does that fit into the mandate of the office, without being asked to jump into providing this kind of commentary?