Information & Ethics committee  Well, I'll put it to you this way. On the court side, yes, there is an open court system, and I don't think—if I understood Commissioner Marleau correctly—he consulted the courts. I don't know how they would feel about it. It's Parliament that I'm more concerned about, because if you limit it just to the general administration....

Information & Ethics committee  I'm at a loss there, except if they had administrative problems, then you might want to know something more about them.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not sure, but a few hundred or more.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, I mean, you can't get them, so that's point number one.

Information & Ethics committee  It's whoever comes to me, but normally it's public interest groups, and perhaps the media. I do a lot on my own, and for corporations too.

Information & Ethics committee  That's curious. Sometimes I am, and sometimes I'm not.

Information & Ethics committee  But I'm not a data broker—

Information & Ethics committee  —and I'm not a heavy commercial user, if that's what you're trying to get at.

Information & Ethics committee  Well—

Information & Ethics committee  Well, as I was saying, it would primarily be on things like why, for instance, is the environmental assessment process being dismantled? Is there any federal input into how the tar sands should be developed in the future? What's the cabinet doing about the funding and future of asbestos, and its use overseas?

Information & Ethics committee  Well, part of the penalties could be discipline, demotion, disciplinary action, termination--

Information & Ethics committee  You mean paying the penalties directly to the requester?

Information & Ethics committee  I don't think that's in the cards. This is not contingency-fee heaven. No, I think you have to send a message to the bureaucracy itself. So, yes, at times that could mean the imposition of jail sentences. Listen, maybe the way you're going to get action is by firing a few deputy ministers.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, again, commissioners with order-making power have a little more clout in this area, because they can ask the institutions why their response is incomplete and ask for proof of what they have. The applicant can try, if they know, and suggest that certain things could be possible, by saying that they've looked at the company publications and they know that certain information should exist.

Information & Ethics committee  Do you mean in terms of what I'm proposing?