moved for leave to introduce Bill C-554, An Act to amend the Access to Information Act (open government).
Mr. Speaker, I thank my seconder, my colleague from Trinity—Spadina.
Today, on the 25th anniversary of the Access to Information Act, I am pleased to present a bill that would change the name of the Access to Information Act to the open government act. It would have a comprehensive reform to many clauses. It would impose the duty to create records. It would introduce a public interest override in the application of the Access to Information Act and would create the situation where cabinet confidences would no longer be excluded automatically from the scrutiny of the Access to Information Act.
I should point out that every clause in the bill was written by the former information commissioner, Mr. John Reid, and his staff. It has been endorsed by Justice Gomery and by the Conservative Party of Canada because every clause in the bill was in the campaign literature in the 2006 federal election campaign where the Conservatives promised specifically to introduce every aspect of John Reid's open government act.
This is reform that is long overdue and absolutely necessary to lay the foundation for the transparency and accountability that Canadians expect.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)