I can see why in Zimbabwe they'd appreciate this sort of system. You provide a certificate, a stamp, that says, yes, the minister is actually quite correct in saying that this is cabinet secrecy.
I had a request to Heritage that took ages, months upon months, dealing with plaques on interment sites across the country and the education materials being prepared for that. I can't remember if it was 48 or 49 pages, but all except two came back blank.
I kept thinking, how could that be? What kinds of secrets could have been on those plaques, or in the preparation of those plaques? But I didn't cause an investigation. As we have seen over and over, we have an Orwellian process, with amber-lighting of members of Parliament, and delays, and that wasn't a serious issue.
There are issues that are serious and that Canadians are concerned about. Take the two requests to the Department of Foreign Affairs for information on detainee transfers: delayed over 300 days. Take the Department of National Defence request for information on the acquisition of Chinook helicopters, huge expenses for the taxpayer. We've heard it over and over. I mean, members here are perturbed about $5 fees, and yet we can't get information on these contracts; it's been over 350 days now, I think.
My point, I guess, is how do we address this? If you were to rank the importance of some of your recommendations, would the recommendation allowing you to take a look at the claims of cabinet secrecy be one of the more important ones?