Thank you, Chair. I'll try to be brief.
The member touched on a number of points.
The first is that the member referred to section 67.1 of the Access to Information Act. That is in fact the law. As recently as February, I communicated that to ministers' chiefs of staff by sending out a memorandum that confirmed the provisions of accountable government to which I have referred, confirmed the need to uphold the act, and reminded them and their staff members that section 67.1 of the act makes it an offence to obstruct the right of access. That was a memorandum I sent on February 9.
I followed that up with subsequent training for the staff members of ministers who are responsible for issues management. I appeared before one of their regular meetings and addressed the Access to Information Act and my expectations, and touched on some of the points the member has raised.
I think the record shows that the government has, in fact, introduced many positive reforms to access to information. The member refers to responsibility. It was this government that in the Federal Accountability Act added subsection 4(2.1) of the act, which places on heads of institutions--that's ministers--the responsibility to ensure that there is timely, complete, and accurate disclosure of records without regard to the identity of a requester. That was a reform of this government, and the government's access to information policy was strengthened to that effect.
It was in fact this government that brought in, through the Federal Accountability Act, a requirement in the statute to have the responsible minister compile statistics so that members and the media and the information commissioner can ask the sorts of questions that are being asked.
I'll close by stating that the timeframe for compliance is an issue, and it's not something of no concern. It's the government's policy that departments are to respond in the timeframes contained in the act or extend time in accordance with the act, subject to the right of a requester to go to the information commissioner and ultimately to the Federal Court.
It's obviously something of concern; otherwise, the government wouldn't have proceeded with the Federal Accountability Act, nor would it have strengthened the access to information policy in the way it did.