Evidence of meeting #43 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was departments.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
Good afternoon Ms. Charette and all the witnesses. Thank you for your presentations.
Ms. Charette, allow me to say that I am extremely shocked. It was decided on April 1st that the committee would study the issue of open government. When did you find out that we were working on this?
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
We regularly follow the committee's work. We read the minutes of meetings and testimonies.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
Did it occur to you at some point that you should inform us about the work you were doing? You know that this committee deals with issues related to the Treasury Board and the Department of Justice.
If a department is part of an open government and there is a committee that is interested in this issue, it would be appropriate for the department the committee's study concerns to provide us with information on the work it is currently doing.
You announced in October, on the international stage, and later at a conference in Ottawa that you had begun working on creating a portal, which would perhaps be ready in the fall.
However, you failed to let parliamentarians know about this. Does your behaviour not strike you as somewhat unacceptable?
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
Madam, I must point out that we had planned to meet with this committee before Christmas.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
Yes, it was supposed to be on December 16, but you had made all your announcements before then. You made your announcements during the summer and in October and November.
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
We have not made any announcements. We are basically working internally. Some information was included in a report submitted to the OECD in preparation for a meeting.
When this report was drafted, we thought we would make headway more quickly than we have. After submitting the report, we unfortunately realized that there were a lot more elements, more work and more consultations needed before we could announce a date, determine the scope of a pilot project, and so on. So, because we were a little...
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
I have a question about that, Ms. Charette.
As Chief Information Officer, could you commit to providing us with a step-by-step progress report on your work involving open data?
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
I apologize. Could you repeat your question?
Bloc
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
We are developing a portal...
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
Would it be possible to give us regular updates on your progress? We don't like getting this information through the OECD or the newspapers three months later.
Would it be possible to provide us with a step-by-step progress report on your work?
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
We could certainly meet with you again in three months to bring you up to speed.
Bloc
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
It is very difficult to anticipate exactly, but...
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
You know, there is some precedent in this field. If you have been following the work done by the committee, you know that there is precedent in many countries. In the United States, President Obama decided that the government should become more open, and they have moved toward achieving that. In the United Kingdom, the same decision was made, and there has been progress. In Australia, they are making headway. In all the provinces, things are moving ahead as well. Yesterday, Government of Ontario representatives explained to us how the situation is progressing in that province. All municipalities have also reported to us on the matter. There are many examples for you to follow. What's more, it was all done very quickly.
How do you explain the fact that the federal government has still not gotten very far? Why is it that we lag behind with regard to information?
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
As far as municipalities go, we are extremely...
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
No. I do not want to get on the topic of municipalities. We are going to focus on the work that has been done.
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
I am not trying to shift the focus to another topic. What I am trying to say, if you will allow me to finish, is that municipalities have created their portal. However, we should also mention that the scope of their data and their legal obligations is somewhat less extensive. Based on our information and based on what we understand of the situation, the provinces have still not launched their portal. They have done a lot of the work required, but they have still not launched their portal for reasons that are similar to our own. They are currently assessing and considering the extent of the data, the impact on policies, on costs and capacity—as pointed out by my colleagues from NRCan—and on keeping data up to date. It is not a matter of publishing data indiscriminately and quickly and not being able to ensure that the information is digestible through the use of metadata, through a localized and predictable refresh cycle, and so on. So, yes, we are taking all these elements into consideration, but the scope of the data the federal government must process or can make available is extensive. It is very extensive. We have a government that generates many very interesting products, but we also have a policy and legislation framework that we definitely need to comply with and...
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
We have heard from other witnesses, such as Mr. Eaves. People have reported to us and told us that the work of our committee is slowing down the transmission of data with a view to establishing an open government. Do you feel that your approach would be better prescribed by legislation?
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
Not necessarily. We must comply with a legislative framework on official languages, information management, privacy, security, and so on.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
I will tell you something that could perhaps help you move forward. We heard absolutely amazing testimony from the Government of Ontario, where those in charge deal with issues involving personal information and access to information from the outset. They're doing amazing work. So, I suggest that you speak to your colleague from Ontario.
Would it be possible to get a report on what you have done so far, including what you mean to do with data within the next six months?
Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat
We could certainly get back to you with a six-month plan on what we are trying to do...
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
I would like you to submit to the committee a written plan and a report on the work you have done so far. You made a presentation that lasted a few minutes, but that doesn't give us any details on what you have done so far and what you plan to do in the next few months.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
We would like you to give us a timetable, an action plan and some data.