Chairman, to be clear, I think the governing authority is accountable to government. Compliance with that is a condition of continued employment for all political staff members. The Treasury Board policy on access to information is inspired by that and it's also binding, but I would say the more important document is Accountable Government. Section 6.1.2 of the Treasury Board policy states that “Once an order is signed, the powers, duties or functions that have been delegated may only be exercised or performed by the head of the institution or by the named officer(s) or employee(s).” But that's not as clear a prohibition as in section 6.1 of Accountable Government, which I've read for members of the committee.
On April 13th, 2010. See this statement in context.