Good morning. I call the meeting to order.
Welcome to our fiftieth meeting.
Today we have with us, from the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada, the Information Commissioner of Canada, Robert Marleau, and Daniel Brunet, director of legal services. From the House of Commons, we have Rob Walsh, law clerk and parliamentary counsel.
Colleagues, I understand that the commissioner does not have an opening statement, so I'll set the context for him.
Some of the members of the committee were of the view that it might be helpful in our investigation of the document entitled “Afghanistan 2006: Good Governance, Democratic Development and Human Rights” if we had an opportunity to talk to the commissioner, to ask questions of the commissioner about some of the things that are troubling some of the members, and to perhaps get the commissioner's advice.
We're mindful of the evidence that was given the last time you were here, with respect to the specifics of any particular case. For those who might have forgotten, the commissioner will of course remind us. But there may be other questions the committee members may have of the commissioner.
Commissioner, that's why you're here. If there are indeed no questions, and we'll soon find out, then we'll say thank you for coming. But there were members of the committee who expressed an interest in having you here.
Mr. Walsh, of course, is our legal counsel. We've asked him to be here for a number of reasons, including the fact that he gave some advice to the subcommittee in camera and not all of the members were at that meeting. We thought it would be useful for members to be able to ask Mr. Walsh some questions.
I hope and believe Mr. Walsh has an opening statement of some kind. Is that correct, Mr. Walsh?