Thank you, Chair. I really appreciated your intervention with respect to the suggestion that perhaps we'd get a more fulsome response to each and every point that was brought up.
My concern with this particular letter is that nowhere has the minister said he'd like the committee to do any more work. His last line is “We assure you that we will continue to work”—“we” meaning his ministry—“closely with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to ensure that the privacy of Canadians continues to be protected.”
The way I read this letter is that he was putting forth his viewpoint. There's no question that there are some points that are well taken, but at no time in this letter are we being encouraged, unlike in the letter we got on the access to information. The access to information letter encouraged the committee to do more work. When I read this, I understood that he was trying to tell me, as a member of the committee, how he viewed this. That's fair enough. We're entitled to know.
My concern is that it will take a long time to enact new legislation, as the chair pointed out. For instance, the Access to Information Act has been under study and remains substantially unchanged for 20 years. There has been study after study undertaken, and nothing has changed. I think Canadians deserve better than that. I think they deserve legislation that protects their rights.
We've seen a lot of legislation go through in the past few days and weeks—crime bills—and that's all well and good. But I'd like to see some attention paid to rights, to statutes that really protect Canadians' rights, gives them access to information, protects their privacy.
I think the commissioner, when she put forward the 12 quick fixes...I mean, if there was an issue about calling it quick fixes, it's not unlike triage, where you have to maybe do a little bit of work before you can get down to the operation. If you don't stop the bleeding, the patient dies.
In any event, based on what the chair has mentioned, and having given it some thought.... By the way, !profound disappointment” mirrors exactly what this committee said about the last response on access to information. I read it the same way as the access to information letter, because essentially we got whole paragraphs that were taken from one letter and put in the other. When that happens, I figure it's almost like a form letter.
In any event, I would be prepared to table my motion for the time being and perhaps pursue a letter to the minister requesting a more detailed response to each and every issue. I'd like to hear from him what he thinks would be the quickest way to get both pieces of legislation--both are over a quarter of a century old--updated to protect Canadians.
Thank you.