Evidence of meeting #7 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 institutions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Judy Foote Liberal Random—Burin—St. George's, NL
You could do that in writing, of course. I wouldn't expect you to give it to me here today.
Interim Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Of course, but the committee might be satisfied with the fact that all of the delegations of authorities are actually published by the various institutions as part of their annual reports. That usually doesn't tell you the name of the individuals, simply because people change in those functions. It basically lists the various functions that have delegated authority and all the details in terms of which provisions of the act they have authority for.
I'm just wondering whether the committee researcher may....
Are they on the Internet?
Interim Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
They are tabled. They're tabled in Parliament, actually, every year, as part of their annual reporting requirement.
Liberal
Judy Foote Liberal Random—Burin—St. George's, NL
Thank you.
I want to go back to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as well. You say in your report that, “The delegation of authority was diffuse. All records on topics of great public interest had to be approved by the president prior to release.”
You did say, “to be approved”. I'm assuming that someone within your department spoke with whomever had delegation of authority within CFIA. But then you say that you need to talk to the president of CFIA.
In the report, you reference “all records on topics of great public interest”. Which files, what subject areas, are you specifically referring to there? For instance, does it include the listeriosis and food inspection issues?
Interim Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Mr. Chairman, I was just consulting with Josée because she did the specific interviews, and I don't have all of those details.
During that time when we were doing the report cards, as I mentioned earlier, I had a conversation with the president of the CFIA about this delegation of authority, because I thought this was causing additional delays. In fact that was changed right after this conversation, as we were going through the process of the report cards.
You know, on whether the listeriosis cases or any other cases went to the president because they would have been of high interest, I would say yes, but I don't have this information in front of me, so I'm a little bit uncomfortable, Mr. Chairman, with--
Liberal
Judy Foote Liberal Random—Burin—St. George's, NL
Is that something you could provide to the committee--a list of the topics?
Interim Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I could. I could ask the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to provide us with that information.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
The average score for departments last year was...or in the last year, the comparable year, was what?
Interim Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
The average score?
Conservative
Interim Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I didn't average it out, Mr. Chairman, for last year, but I can provide the committee with ratings for last year. We only had ten last year.
If I remember correctly, last year six out of ten performed below average. That's what I remember. Justice got an A last year.
I think the best thing, Mr. Chairman, is to provide the committee with the rates from last year.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
For the last comparable year, please; for the last comparable year.
Interim Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
There is no other comparable year, Mr. Chairman, because these report cards were only done these last two years. The only--
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Okay. I'll just leave you to do the best you can. We just don't have the time to have the whole history of the process; just the best comparable time comparison we can give.
My Liberal colleague was concerned about Privy Council Office and the rating it received. On page 56 of your report, you address Privy Council Office. The rate of refusal this year was 23%.
In the last year of the Liberal government, it was actually 32%.
In other words, the rate of refusal has declined by almost a third since--
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
I wonder, could he tell me what year the last year of the Liberal government was? I believe there have been two elections since then.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
That is a decline of roughly a third in the rate of refusal since the 2005 year--to refresh my colleague's memory as to when that was.
The RCMP actually received a great improvement in this year's report, now at C. It was at an F under the previous Liberal government, when Mr. Easter was in fact the minister. He did serve as the minister responsible for the RCMP, as Solicitor General, and the Liberal government secured a solid F during that time.
On to the question of political staff: do political staff have the ability to block the release of access to information requests?
Interim Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Mr. Chairman, as this committee knows, I am currently investigating a specific allegation of political interference from a staffer in a minister's office.
