Information & Ethics committee  The 18 recommendations are the 18 recommendations. If one party leader gave a PMB slot to this PMB, it would be right at the top of the agenda. In a minority Parliament, all the opposition parties could pass it. The Senate would presumably—

Information & Ethics committee  I don't see any problem at all with documenting decisions and actions. I don't see the danger either. There will always be exemptions for certain records to protect national security, police investigations, truly proprietary information of businesses and relations with other governments.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, I mentioned them before. Require a duty to document all actions and decisions. Close all of the secrecy loopholes that allow for excessive secrecy. I agree with Mr. Beeby with regard to the advice and cabinet confidence. That is one of the most abused. In terms of the commissioner's powers, I mentioned penalties, but also, the commissioner should have the power to audit the information management system of a government institution and make recommendations in terms of cleaning it up so that records are kept in a way that can be accessed easily.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you. With your permission, I will answer the question in English because my French is rusty. As I just said, the public gets access to the information that the government wants the public to get access to. This government has been focused on that in saying that open government is the same as open data.

Information & Ethics committee  If you close all the excessive secrecy loopholes and you empower the commissioner and give the resources to the commissioner so they can be doing timely investigations, then the abuse of the loopholes will be much more difficult, because they'll be much more restricted. Delays will not be tolerated, because the commissioner will be right on top of them.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, I think this is the seventh or eighth time I have appeared on access to information reforms specifically since 1993. In terms of how that relates to disinformation, other than the secrecy of online posts and who's actually behind them, it is not something we really work on specifically in terms of access to information.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much, Chair and committee, for the invitation to appear before you again during your review of access to information. I'm going to be brief. You have Democracy Watch's submission, setting out 18 key changes. I won't go through those changes again. They can be summarized very simply.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you. The Access to Information Act is misnamed. It really should be called the ”Guide to Keeping Information Secret that the Public has a Right to Know Act” because that's what it is. It is more loopholes than rules. As a result, the enforcement changes made by Bill C-58 can empower the commissioner only so much, because of the number of loopholes, exemptions and exclusions that can be claimed.

Information & Ethics committee  That's fine. Thank you. As I was saying, instead of the committee's issuing yet another report—and this committee has issued reports already on the access to information law—Democracy Watch is calling on committee members to take the report and the recommendations that the majority of committee members support and turn them into a co-sponsored private member's bill.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. In my submission I will be setting out the Supreme Court decisions, showing that if the code goes through as is, it will actually violate the charter. The current four-year cooling off period does not violate the charter at all. It's completely compliant with the Supreme Court, and other Canadian court rulings.

Information & Ethics committee  Shame.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, if you want to discourage violations, then the penalty has to mean something.

Information & Ethics committee  Sure. Parliament's in violation of the Lobbying Act by failing to refer to this committee or another committee the review of the Lobbying Act for the last 10 years. It's supposed to be done twice. It should be reviewed, and one of the things that should be put in is that the Commissioner of Lobbying is required to issue a public summary of every single review or investigation of any situation or complaint that comes before her.

Information & Ethics committee  Of violating the Lobbyists' Code?

Information & Ethics committee  Administrative monetary penalties should be put in place, like the Commissioner of Canada Elections has. The Commissioner of Lobbying has called for them. It should be on a sliding scale, and I believe in the concept of ability to pay, so it should be higher if you have a higher income.