Mr. Speaker, the member does not need to take my word for it but he should take Mitchell Sharp's word for it.
When the former minister, David Collenette, resigned in October after an access to information turned up a letter he had written that breached cabinet ethic guidelines, Mr. Sharp said:
With the CAIR system, any request involving a minister's conduct is shipped to the PM's desk.... [So Mr.] Chretien was able to consult...decide upon Collenette's fate and choose the successor--all before the request was filled and the media feeding frenzy began.
The Liberal system was all about controlling information.