I'm saying that if committee and Parliament decide that there really has to be some measure of involvement of the Privacy Commissioner under C-58, it should be first in terms of consulting the Privacy Commissioner during investigations under my legislation, so it should be at the discretion of the Information Commissioner. I say this because of what I highlighted in my remarks, which was that most cases are resolved at the very early stages of investigation.
The way Bill C-58 is currently drafted, it's basically open to a government institution to decide to notify the Privacy Commissioner as soon as they receive the notice of a complaint. If that occurs, then I “shall” consult with the Privacy Commissioner. In that respect, that would really impede the investigation and affect its integrity. If it is at the discretion of the Information Commissioner to consult, only in very few cases would there be contentious issues between the two offices. We really have a long history, over 34 years, of these two offices functioning together in the interpretation of that section. There have been very few instances of disagreement, so that's why.
Bill C-58 already provides that if there's going to be an order, during the time for the government to respond, or the time before the order becomes a deemed order, there has to be a notification to the Privacy Commissioner, and there is an opportunity for the Privacy Commissioner to bring the matter to court. That process is already provided for in C-58.
What the Privacy Commissioner recommends, if I understood correctly, is that even at the level of a recommendation, he would have to be notified. That's what we have now. We have that regime now. We make recommendations to institutions on a regular basis. Very few instances deal with recommendations to disclose personal information, and I have no obligation to consult with the Privacy Commissioner. That's been the case for 34 years.