Thanks, Mr. Chair.
I support the comments of my colleague from the Bloc on this. I think we owe it to taxpayers, not just to their unelected lords and masters in the bureaucracy, to at least give them access to their elected officials.
This information has been made public by other governments around the world, in America and Europe. I'm concerned about what the Information Commissioner calls a culture of secrecy within government, where everything that taxpayers or parliamentarians should be able to get answers for is blocked.
This is not information that's going to be shared outside of this room. The motion has been very specific that there be no phones, etc. We have seen this before with other committees, where we have accessed information in a private room, overseen by the department and the clerk. I see absolutely no reason why elected members by themselves cannot be given access to what seems to be public in other countries, though not yet in Canada.
I fully support the motion as presented and hope we can move forward.