There was a time when there was no access to information. I think Newfoundland was the second jurisdiction to implement a freedom of information act, Nova Scotia being the first, and then I think the federal one was implemented. I believe Newfoundland's was in 1982 and Nova Scotia's in 1978, something along those lines. So this is a fairly recent phenomenon in this country, and most members of the public service and most politicians were always imbued with the idea that you don't talk about anything you do in government. It was a breach of your oath of confidence. Every civil servant takes an oath of confidentiality that they will not disclose these things. That was the culture prior to access to information.
It's going to take some time before that culture gets changed. The culture couldn't change in the 30 years between 1982 and 2012, when they brought in Bill 29. Bill 29 took us back to that old culture. Even though there had been some departure from it in the prior 30 years, Bill 29 took us back to it. Don't blame government. I was part of government in the sixties with Mr. Smallwood and outside the cabinet room, you never talked about anything government did. It just wasn't done, unless it were something that was debated on the floor of the House of Assembly.
The culture has come a long way since those times. Bill 29 saw a retrenchment back to the old ways to some degree, and that's what caused a massive public reaction that resulted in the committee being put in place.