Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I note that for 13 very long, miserable, dark years access to information around this place was quite limited. The doors to the Wheat Board were closed. The CBC was closed. I believe some 70 institutions weren't accountable to Canadians through access to information. Sometimes in the military it has been called the “decade of darkness”. I guess it can be realistically called the “decade of darkness” for access to information as well.
But in February 2006, which is typically the coldest and darkest month of the year across Canada, it became sunnier and brighter and the doors of this place were opened up. CBC was put on the list. The Wheat Board was put on the list. Some 70 institutions were put on the list and Canadians were given access to all these organizations. I note that the budget has gone up from $7 million to $12 million. The Treasury Board Secretariat responded to 72% of the requests within 30 days. The majority of the other requests were responded to within 30 days. We've finally seen the opening up of Parliament.
We have a government, of course, led by Prime Minister Harper that was elected in 2006 that understood what Canadians wanted, following the decade of darkness and the scandals with respect to sponsorships, which the previous government tried unsuccessfully to hide. They knew they had a government that finally would understand them and would open the doors and give them the access to the information that they needed and that they really rightfully deserved because they are, after all, the ones paying the bills.
What you have been describing is a massive undertaking, obviously. It's something that we have to be extraordinarily careful in doing. I can tell you this. I appreciate the work that you've put into this with respect to the individuals we should be contacting and the jurisdictions we should be looking at, because we have to get this right. I'm wondering if you would agree. You've said that we're coming along. NRCan.... You've suggested the immigration department were coming along.
I'm wondering if a phased-in approach to doing this is something we should look at. We have the departments that have already done this, have gone down the road, are doing it properly. But would it not make sense to then slowly do this so that we are doing it in a way that protects privacy where it needs to be protected but gets the information out? If that approach is something we should look at, if that's how we can be successful in making sure that we actually get this right.... You said Australia, but perhaps one day we could be the jurisdiction that other countries come to look at.