Sure. Having talked to a few of our members who do a lot of access to information, they mentioned a few things. Some of the questions were in our brief.
There are no penalties for non-compliance with the act. So perhaps there could be actual penalties for non-compliance. There are many exemptions and exclusions in the act, and I think you've even heard here that they're not particularly well worded, especially in the case of section 68.1. I think that is part of the reason why the CBC is in court with the Information Commissioner. So perhaps the wording of the legislation could be examined.
The Information Commissioner has said she would like to have access to the ministerial documents and records. There are ways to improve access to information in this country. We're not experts; we're sort of second-hand experts through our members. It's not the main job of our union. But these are some of the things we've heard. I think having a very serious hearing on how to improve the legislation and look at what other countries have been doing to improve access to information would be a good thing.
I talked to a recently retired member the other day, who said he often goes through U.S. access to information to get information about the Canadian government that he can't get in Canada. There is a culture in the U.S., tied right to the Constitution, about accessibility of information being part of the lifeblood of democracy. That culture doesn't exist to the same extent in Canada, and I think that is a problem. It's not something you can change at this committee. It's not something you can change with a study.