I think there are three recommendations that target different behaviours on the part of government responding to requests.
The first is the order-making power for administrative complaints. Should the commissioner have this order-making power, it would fill what has been identified as a flaw in section 30 of the act. That section lists the items upon which one can file an administrative complaint. But there's no recourse; you can't go to the courts on this. This way, administratively, the commissioner could address some of these issues and build an administrative jurisprudence that would guide departments in meeting their obligations under the statute. That's one component where I think this rule would change the culture.
The other, which was the body of my special report, is the restriction on extensions. We found that they average 120 days and, in some departments, much longer than that. We've cut it in half and modelled it on some of our provincial legislation, so that the commissioner should be the one to approve any extensions beyond 60 days. Those are the 30 days within which they are normally supposed to respond under the statute, and then they can claim a perfectly legal extension, but to a maximum of 60 days, so that within 90 days there should be an expectation that service will be provided to the requester. I think this would change the culture, because after they've come to the commissioner two or three times to justify the extension, there's a hesitance, I think, to keep coming back. So I think this would enforce a different behaviour within that 90-day window. This, I think, would change the culture.
The other is the recommendation I make that the commissioner have discretionary powers over investigations. Right now, the act says “I shall” investigate, and as a consequence, it doesn't matter what the context is or the content is; they just used to line up in a queue. Having a little discretion, I think, would help in dealing with some of the issues—which, in other legislation, are called vexatious and frivolous—and with departments in terms of how they respond to that. So it's a question again of changing behaviours and culture, but this time on both sides of the fence.
I'm sorry I took so much time, but those are the three components for cultural influence.