Information & Ethics committee  In fact, that's why I was debating whether the word “unique” was the appropriate one. It certainly is distinctive; it is certainly seen as a model. In fact, in UN circles it has been often quoted as a best practice as well as all-encompassing legislation. It is a very complex piece of legislation, with more than 54 pages, with some exceptions, with, as well, some areas in which I cannot intervene--if there's already a process ongoing or if the matter could be better resolved under another regime.

Information & Ethics committee  The commonality that I share broadly, as well, with the unions is that there is still confusion about our mandate and there's a lot of private interest, performance management, staff relations issues. Again, it's not that these are not important. I'm not dismissing this; in fact, I worked in that area at one point.

Information & Ethics committee  That's correct.

Information & Ethics committee  I used to know that terminology when I was at the Immigration and Refugee Board, I must confess. But at this time we don't have a backlog. However, it does not mean that should our role or mandate be known, it won't happen. So I'm very conscious of that.

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  They are requests for general information.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Chair. I will make a few brief comments. First, based on the experience in Ontario, where my colleague works and where legislation came into force at approximately the same time, the proportion is approximately the same. Second, we must remember that the internal disclosure process within each department is working.

Information & Ethics committee  The expenditures you are reading were for fiscal year 2007-08.

Information & Ethics committee  The information on the expenditures for this fiscal year has just been made available, so what you're reading was for the previous fiscal year. For the fiscal year that just ended--this is standard--you always project generally the expenditures for which Parliament has voted--the budget--to the best of your ability.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. For the year that just ended, it was exactly the same: $3.6 million. It was $3.6 million for the previous fiscal year, which you're reading. While the projection was for the full $6.5 million that Parliament voted for my office, I'm very conscious of every single dollar that is being expended.

Information & Ethics committee  The 2008-09 numbers were the projection of how much we were going to expend, but we completed the fiscal year on March 31. I just had the report, and in fact what we expended for the last fiscal year was similar to the previous fiscal year.

Information & Ethics committee  We just completed a strategic planning exercise around Christmastime. We are in the process right now of realigning our operational priorities. We will allocate the budget. We've had a preliminary budget allocated, but over the next few weeks we will look at the priorities. There will be investment, for instance, in case management systems, information management.

Information & Ethics committee  The $6.5 million was based on a projection of 41 employees, but we have not reached that level. We are planning to have about 23 to 24 employees. In order to make the most of resources, we will have a list of some top-notch mediators who are available. We will hire people part-time.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, it's a little more than that. I would probably refer you to the 59 cases of disclosures and the 22 of reprisals. On some of the cases that will be in the next annual report, some people under the previous office worked between a year and a year and half, almost full-time. I should also mention that depending on the issue, we also occasionally have lawyer investigators.

Information & Ethics committee  We have no such jurisdiction.