I guess the question becomes, why not? Why not fight for something that this committee has previously identified as better, that the Information Commissioner has said is better, than simply saying this might be a slight improvement to a thing that has proven to be problematic over time? It's a technique or a tool.
There was some assurance given at one point. I think it was one of the government officials who said, “Well, departments aren't likely to go to court on this.” That's no assurance at all, because they're not spending their money. This is taxpayer money going to court. If there's information, particularly of a sensitive nature, Chair, which is generally the stuff that we're talking about, which is important, of course, government will seek remedy in court as a way to make a process that could be three months or four months last three or four years. I take no assurance from any notion that no department or complainant is likely to take the commissioner to court. Of course they will, if that's a tool available.
To the question that we're not looking to sacrifice the good as we aim for the perfect, I don't think what we've offered here is some unattainable thing, so I put my question again to our Liberal colleagues. If the evidence that the previous committee, including Liberals, studying this put forward and recommended, if the Information Commissioner also put this testimony in front of us, and there's no condemning action against it, there's nothing saying if you were to do this, this would cause harm to the Canadian public.
I don't understand how my Liberal colleagues are voting. I honestly don't, because they ran on this. This is about open and accountable government. We have open and accountable recommendations in front of us, and the power to make this legislation significantly better. To not do it is to suggest that all of those were words, and the reality for Canadians seeking information from government is that their reality is going to be made much worse at the end of this process. That's unfortunate.