Welcome, colleagues. This is the third meeting of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.
The order of the day under committee business is the report to the committee on the subcommittee commonly known as the steering committee. I can advise members that we had an opportunity to consider every item that was proposed by the members for consideration. We came to the point where we can recommend our approach. I think all the parties are substantively agreed on what we are going to recommend to the full committee now, so I want to get into it right away.
First of all, the two reports—one on access, one on privacy—that were tabled in the last Parliament have been re-tabled. Discussions have been held with the minister about the timing to get a comprehensive response to each recommendation in both reports, as well as an indication of his availability to appear before the committee. That was from a verbal conversation with the minister, but I'm sensing that if we don't put it in writing we may find ourselves wondering. So I'm going to ask the committee for their approval that the chair write to the minister, and I would like some guidance on the timelines.
The last time we were here we asked for January 25. He came back and asked for February 15. The prorogation really stopped all of that. But they have had a full month since we asked for the comprehensive response, and he concurred with the February 15 date, so they must have been working on this.
Do we have any suggestions for the chair? I suggest it should be no later than April 30.