Information & Ethics Committee on June 8th, 2010

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Do you go down that road very often?

[Suzanne Legault]

We have not, to my knowledge, so far. We really try to work hard to negotiate the release of the information, because at the end of the day that only deals with the release of the information at a certain time. It really doesn't deal with the actual package that is released, any exceptions or exclusions that are applied, so in terms of the release of the information to the requester, we are not gaining much time by going to court. That being said, it is open to me to do that.

We are going to get guidance from this Federal Court of Appeal decision.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

If you were to go down that road more often, do you have the funding you need to take that kind of court action?

[Suzanne Legault]

We couldn't do it on a routine basis, definitely not. The budget freeze is having a major impact on our operations right now. I'm appearing before the government operations committee next week. We are completing our analysis of that.

Our budget situation is very tight at this point.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

In those kinds of situations, are there other possibilities? Has it ever been considered that you might report those specific incidents to Parliament, for instance, giving the details of the specific case: the name of the department, the précis of the request, and a summary of what happened on it—making a specific report on those particular incidents?

Would that be a helpful course, given the problems you've talked about in taking the court action step?

[Suzanne Legault]

The special report that we tabled recently tackled that specific aspect of time delays, both deemed refusal and extension notices, so we have done that.

The point of the report cards this year is that we are going to work very closely with those 13 institutions, and it is a possibility, obviously.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Thank you.

Mr. Rickford, please.

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Commissioner.

You seem to have a fuller and more enduring sense about it. I want to appreciate as well the members of the opposition for their praise of our Prime Minister's excellent choice for refilling this position on a more permanent basis.

I will turn to the annual report that we are quite pleased to have received from your office. In general, we are pleased to learn that the number of complaints has noticeably decreased for the second consecutive year. Is that correct?

[Suzanne Legault]

Yes, that is true, Mr. Chair. Three years ago, there were approximately 2,300 complaints. Last year, we received about 2,000. This year, we are dealing with approximately 1,600.

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

I'm reading from pages 11 through 16, but your office closed 2,125 complaints in 2009-10, which represents a 20% increase from last year. I believe that is more than the office has probably closed in more than 25 years total.

[Suzanne Legault]

That's correct.

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

You have listed the keys to your department's success on pages 13 through 16. Well done—it's a great read. I'm going to give you the opportunity to comment on certain aspects of your approach to leadership that have contributed to these results. Gloat for a moment, if you like.

[Suzanne Legault]

The bottom line is that my team and I work very hard. At the end of the day, that's essentially what it is.

As to the investigations, two things relevant to my leadership made a big difference last summer. Assistant Commissioner Neill was tasked with understanding what she had in inventory, which was not an easy job. She handles 3,500 to 4,000 cases at a time. But there was no real knowledge of the cases. That's what we did. It allowed us to develop various efficiency approaches not only within our own office but also with institutions. Leadership is also a matter of dealing with institutions and trying to work with them to find solutions and adopt portfolio approaches. Each department is different; each has its own reality.

The second aspect was to staff the office, which was not staffed.

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

That's an important point.

You noted there has been considerable improvement in the turnaround from institutions. I think we all view that as great news. More specifically, I noticed in your report that the Treasury Board Secretariat has already taken significant steps in response to your recommendations. I interpret this to mean that our departments are listening and that they want to continue to improve and become more transparent. This would be consistent with the position this government has maintained over the past four years. Can you elaborate a bit more on this?

[Suzanne Legault]

I have spoken with Minister Day and I have been engaged in ongoing discussions with the Secretary of the Treasury Board. I am happy to report that there is a commitment to improving the system. Meeting with ministers, deputies, or heads of agencies always makes me optimistic about improving performance and access to information. This year we are going to focus on the 13 that were identified in the special report, along with the recommendations, to see what ground we can gain in improving the system.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

We don't actually do a report on the annual report to the House. It is something that we will be talking about until the next one. Madam Acting Commissioner, until something happens, congratulations on your nomination. I will try to report tomorrow, and this committee will take the opportunity to look at the study a little more. The report has just recently been tabled, and in fairness I think we need to digest it a bit more. I'm sure we will have some more discussions with you, but possibly not until after the summer break.

Thank you kindly for all your support of this committee. You're excused.

We have one last item to deal with. Madam Davidson, I circulated a letter from Minister Nicholson about his appearance on the 17th. Do you have a point?

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

I wanted to point out that when this was brought up at the last meeting, or the second last, we hadn't yet seen the June 2 letter. You had it but it hadn't been circulated, I don't think. In that letter the minister agreed to appear for an hour. The second letter is just clarifying that, isn't it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

No. We requested that he appear on one of three dates, and he picked the 17th. The request for him to appear suggested one hour on privacy, one hour on access. Just yesterday he said he would come for only an hour because he had some scheduling difficulties.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

All I'm saying is that his first letter of June 2, which we had not seen at the last meeting, said he would be pleased to accept our invitation to appear for an hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

No, no, it was—

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

I'm reading it, and that's exactly what it says.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

No, no. That's what he says it says.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

I'm reading his letter from June 2.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

The invitation of the committee that instructed me was to bring him for one hour for each report. He agreed.

There were two letters: one for access and one for.... That's why.

Notwithstanding, the issue is that the minister has indicated that he's going to be available on June 17, but now instead of its being for two hours, it's one hour. The committee had asked for one hour for each of the reports, but the minister is now available for only one hour for both reports.

The only way I could think of changing that would be maybe to call Mr. Darren Eke, director of issues management and legislative advisor to the minister, to appear for the second hour. He's a political staffer, which means that the minister will appear.

No, I'm being facetious.

Under the circumstances, colleagues, I think we've made best efforts. The minister is still going to appear, and we'll have to make the best of the time available. I'm sure we have other work to do to fill out the rest of that meeting.

Mr. Easter, please.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

But that was our understanding.

We had Minister Paradis here for the last meeting and this meeting, not invited. We had three or four ministers before the operations committee the other day, not invited. As Randy mentioned earlier in this meeting, I complain substantially in the agriculture committee when the minister only comes for an hour. When committees invite ministers, they cut their time back to an hour. It's abuse to committees more and more.