Evidence of meeting #27 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was institutions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
Okay.
To understand some of the issues, would it be fair to say that delays are rife?
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
Delays are the most concerning, yes.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
The backlogs are a different thing. For me, the inventory keeps going up.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
Okay.
As a result of your concerns, you requested a meeting with the Clerk of the Privy Council, Mr. Sabia. You wrote to him on July 15, 2025. Is that right?
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
Yes.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
You met with him on November 12, 2025. Is that right?
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
That's correct.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
It took him a full four months to sit down with you. It doesn't sound like he was in too much of a rush to meet with you.
There is a backgrounder your office prepared on that meeting, and one of the issues discussed, in addition to persistent delays, was with respect to access to information. It states, “the work that needs to be done to implement an order should and could have been done prior to a complaint being submitted.”
Is the PCO sitting on access to information requests and not taking steps to comply with them until a complaint has been made?
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
A lot of the complaints we receive have been with the PCO for quite a long time. You're right. There's a lot of work that could be done before it comes to my office.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
This is occurring frequently—just so we understand.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
Yes. If you go to my website, you'll see a lot of examples of orders and decisions that were rendered with respect to the PCO.
Conservative
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
It is not getting better.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
Okay.
In the same backgrounder on the meeting, you note that the PCO has, at least on occasion, “[e]xaggerated claims of harm” regarding why some documents were being withheld from requesters.
Can you elaborate on that?
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
There are two cases that went to the court wherein the argument of harm was used for top secret documents that were historical documents, not current information. They were old documents. As I said in my opening statement, we're still dealing with some information within the PCO that is between 40 and 69 years old.
Yes, because it went to court, it was settled before a decision from the court.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
The Federal Court, in one of those cases, ordered the PCO to pay $4,400 on the basis that this should never have gotten to court and that the PCO should have abided by your recommendation, which was to release a report in its entirety.
Is that correct?
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
Yes.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
They were slapped on the wrist by the Federal Court.
Now, in terms of the meeting you had with Mr. Sabia, did he undertake any steps to improve the PCO's compliance with access to information?
February 9th, 2026 / 4:05 p.m.
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
He was very receptive.
Conservative
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
We had a very good meeting. I have to say that I've met four different clerks in the eight years of my appointment. Mr. Sabia was very receptive. He understood and had good questions. He didn't make any promises, but he definitely took it upon himself to get more information and to help us achieve something.
Conservative
Michael Cooper Conservative St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB
It's one thing to be receptive. Have you discerned any tangible improvements on the part of the PCO since your meeting?
Information Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
It is still very difficult.
Conservative