I would concur, and I would even question whether or not it is necessary to have those deliberations protected. What are we really protecting here? Are we protecting cabinet ministers from embarrassment? Are we protecting a fiction that more than a dozen people in a room will always agree with one another?
What are we really protecting when we talk about cabinet confidences, when we talk about cabinet confidentiality? Is that something that is deserving of legitimate protection, or is it something that is an archaic part of our political system that is contrary to the wishes of the public?
I do an interesting exercise with my students when I talk about access to information. I get them to write on a board all of the information they want, which they would expect to have from the government. Then I take a piece of chalk, and I begin to cross out all of the pieces of information they are not allowed to access under our Access to Information Act and under our political system.
It seems passingly odd to me that the principle decision-making body in government is entirely secret. I wonder whether or not it seems odd to anyone else in this room.