A week after the ELRA came into effect in April 2012, I wrote to Minister Toews, who was the Minister of Public Safety, alerting him to the fact that the Access to Information Act applied. Of course, I saw there was a concern; I had a valid request and a valid complaint. I alerted the minister in April 2012 that the access act applied. The minister replied to me—and this is in my special report—that he would abide by the rights of access under the Access to Information Act.
The government, which had a majority at the time, could have said, “Oops” and changed the law at that time. Unfortunately, it wasn't done, so an investigation was conducted and this is the situation we are faced with.
I agree with you: I really do not know what a court would determine in relation to this bill. I do have serious concerns and I don't think the law is settled on facts such as these.
I urge parliamentarians to really look at this and to see whether or not it is a better solution to say, “Let the facts and the case in the Federal Court determine whether or not the response was provided appropriately.” It's already before the Federal Court. Let the police do their own investigation. Perhaps they will find that there is nothing there. We shall see, but that's the situation we have. It should run its course.