Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I think those are fair concerns. We don't take the position that every single piece of information inside the government needs to be disclosed. I think Mr. Bratina touched on this. There's a natural tension between privacy and accountability. I think the nature of public officials and of government is such that it has to be tilted more towards accountability than privacy, for the simple reason that government has power that no private citizen has.
At the end of the day, Mr. Holman and I can come here and make recommendations all day long, but those around the table are the ones with the power. Therefore, I think the onus for transparency and accountability is higher on government.
That said, I think there are reasonable cases, such as the ones you have cited, in which the information should either not be released, or not be released for a certain period of time after which point the information becomes less sensitive. I don't know that we go as far as Mr. Holman in saying that there should be no exemptions. There should be fewer exemptions and they should be justified.
I certainly take your point that it's not a simple, blanket “throw open the doors”. There are going to be situations in which the information is sensitive, and certainly not just with trade deals. You can envision military situations, intelligence information situations, in which that would also apply. I certainly take your point.