You've noted that there has been an evolution when it comes to access to information. I guess people using the system have been frustrated over the years and it has gotten worse. As opposed to bureaucratic delays and sometimes the appearance of a maze, people have given up on the system. You referenced that journalists have given up, and I've referenced that parliamentarians have given up on using the system. So as opposed to just frustration, that access to information door seems to have been closed. We're virtually facing a wall.
It's nice to play pretend while we've now allowed access to many more institutions, but when that access is just theoretical, when you cannot in fact access and you're facing a wall, then you've not actually provided anything.
What I find fascinating is that, in the past election, the Conservative Party election platform, “Stand up for Canada”, pledged that cabinet confidences would not be excluded from the commissioner's review. Obviously that hasn't happened. That's another disturbing development where a commitment made has not been kept.
We've seen the frustration level progress to people throwing up their hands and saying they can't use the system. It used to be 30- to 60-day periods. We're up to 250-day periods, and there's a new twist to this. Things are sent by the departments for so-called PCO consultations, and the PCO has found another mechanism that they're utilizing these days. They send out notes stating the following:
We are aware that a certain time has passed since your request was originally received and we sincerely apologize for the delay. In an attempt to clear out our heavy backlog situation, please complete the following. Do you still require that information, yes or no?
So they delay and delay, way beyond what is allowable, and then send out these notes asking if you're still interested. Often information is of a timely matter.