Hi. I'm a director of the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom. I was asked by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression to fill in for them this afternoon. We frequently partner with them. The CCWPF is a UNESCO-sponsored organization.
We were gratified that the legislation gives the commissioner the authority to order release of the information instead of having to go to court every time there is a disagreement. That is a step forward.
However, beyond that, we're concerned about a section of the act dealing with nuisance and vexatious requests, and we hope that is amended—if it is necessary at all—so that at least it's up to the commissioner, not a particular department, to release the information.
Overall we regard Bill C-58, as it stands, as a lost opportunity. We agree with the Centre for Law and Democracy that the bill is far more conspicuous for what it fails to do. In fact, we agree with the commissioner that much of this amending legislation is regressive. That was their exact word.
As you know, the government had promised to make itself open by default. Indeed, a promise was made that the ATI law would be amended to include the Prime Minister's Office and ministers' offices. In Bill C-58, the Prime Minister's Office and the offices of ministers and others remain off limits to information requests made under the act. In what the BC Civil Liberties Association calls a “bizarre sleight of hand”, the PMO and ministers' offices will be required to release such things as travel expenses or contracts and other documents designated for proactive disclosure, but it's strictly at their discretion.
Some might claim this fulfills a promise. We find that curious. It's a situation in which Canadians would be entitled to certain types of information, but they just couldn't ask for the information. That may make sense to somebody, but I don't think it makes common sense. It's logic worthy of a script from Yes, Minister and Sir Humphrey Appleby, or more worthy of Mackenzie King: transparency if necessary, but not necessarily transparency.
We are, however, glad to see that the ministerial mandate letters are under the proactive disclosure section in the legislation. That's a step forward for Canadian transparency in government. We're glad it's being codified for the sake of permanence.
Let me conclude by saying that updating federal legislation to the information law in Canada remains very much a work in progress. We urge this committee to make improvements. Bill C-58 is a big step toward finishing the job. We realize this is going to be a long haul.
Thank you.