Evidence of meeting #104 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cbsa.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Commissioner, really quickly, this committee has asked for hundreds of thousands of documents to be produced. Can you provide any advice to a body like the committee, which often asks agencies to produce hundreds of thousands of documents over the course of mere months on a specific issue? Do you have any advice as to how we might be able to help out the folks that are producing those documents in terms of how we craft the requests?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I think you just need to make sure you ask for the proper information, the scope of the subject that you want to have the information for.
Conservative
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Maynard, I am pretty sure you will not be able to answer what I wanted to ask you initially. With regard to the ArriveCAN application, I wanted to know essentially whether it was a good use of resources for GC Strategies to subcontract the work to another company.
Looking at it another way, in the case of the ArriveCAN application, GC Strategies subcontracted some work to KPMG. Two people working from their basement subcontracted work to a huge company.
In cases where contractors subcontract the work or subcontractors subcontract the work, what happens in terms of analysis and transparency? It's enough to make your head spin.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
It depends on the contract. I cannot speak to this contract in particular because I have not seen it.
Some contracts specifically state that subcontractors will be subject to the Access to Information Act and that the information will not be confidential. In other cases, the reverse is true. It really depends on the contract.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Why do contracts differ in that way?
In some cases, they say that all the information will be accessible, while others say it is confidential.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I couldn't say. It is probably the contractor himself who wants the contract to be worded that way. I couldn't tell you who makes that decision.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I have asked Treasury Board to make as many people as possible subject to the Access to Information Act, including ministers' offices, the Prime Minister's Office, subcontractors, contractors and agencies doing work for Canadians and using public funds.
I think the federal government should include that in the act.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
As I said earlier, the act will not be reviewed until 2025.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Thank you very much.
Mr. Julian, we'll go to you to finish things up, please.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thank you very much, Madam Maynard, for your service on behalf of Canadians.
I want to come back to an earlier question. You said, I believe—and correct me if I'm wrong—that there are 536 existing files on CBSA and 654 complaints that you would be examining. That leads us to a total of 1,190 complaints with CBSA, both presently and ongoing. Are those figures correct? If so, they're astounding.
Does CBSA seem to engender more complaints than any other part of government? Looking at your overall number of complaints, it seems to be beating other departments. Is that true?
February 21st, 2024 / 2:15 p.m.
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Currently we have received 654. We have 536 active cases remaining in our inventory against CBSA. It is the number one institution for complaints received this year.
I have to say that this is why I started a systemic investigation with respect to CBSA. It was to find out the root cause, and this is a special report that we're going to be tabling in May with respect to that investigation.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thank you for your work on this issue. This is something that obviously requires transparency. It is astounding to me that CBSA has been so negligent in responding to the requirement for information.
For CBSA and for other government departments, for something like a sole-source contract like the one for ArriveCAN, what information should they be keeping to ensure that we know what Canadians have spent on those contracts, who did the work and why those contracting decisions were made?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
As with any government institution that is doing contracting, including my office, there are rules with respect to contracting. There are controls in place. I believe that any decisions like this should be well documented. A discussion with respect to amendments of the contract should be as well recorded.
As I said earlier, the documents are being asked for, and we should be able to provide Canadians with as much information as required on the amount of public funds that are being spent and how they are being spent.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Thank you, Mr. Julian.
Ms. Maynard, thank you again for joining for us. I appreciate your time and I look forward to receiving your list of legislative changes we can put through to empower your department.
I have one question, if colleagues will allow me before you go. You may have answered it, but I wasn't clear.
If you're satisfied that there are grounds to investigate a matter regarding ATIP or missing information, do you have the authority to self-initiate a complaint, or does it have to come from an outside body, so to speak?
Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
This is a good question. I do have the authority to initiate my own complaints if I don't see a complaint within my inventory on the issue.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Wonderful.
Colleagues, I'm going to excuse our witness.
Before we suspend and get to the next issue, I just need quick permission. We had asked for witnesses for Canada Post. We have not received any. I'm asking that we extend to a week from this Friday at noon, which is another eight days, for Canada Post witnesses. Is that okay?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Thank you very much.
We are suspending for about five minutes, and then we'll come back.
Conservative