Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses here with us today. Your presence is very important to us.
As part of government activities, decisions are no doubt made every day. When Canadians or journalists want to obtain additional information about certain decisions or actions, they use the Access to Information Act. Unfortunately, the responses received are all too often redacted or don't say much.
Do you feel that there has been an overuse of redaction to hide information that is really not in any serious need of being protected?
Here, we can get on with our work. If there is abuse somewhere, we can invite people to appear to explain themselves. We often, in fact, agree with people who come here to explain why they made certain decisions. On the other hand, the fact that so much information is hidden may perhaps explain why people are so disenchanted with the public service.
Could each of you in turn tell us if the amount of information being hidden is excessive?
Let's start with you, Mr. Wernick.