Information & Ethics committee  Our report indicates that nothing would be terrible about it. We recommended a much more open regime, and the structure we put in place in the legislation we drafted provides for a much more open regime. However, it doesn't provide for a totally open regime. Government still has to function and has to function efficiently.

Information & Ethics committee  The hybrid model would greatly assist in achieving this goal.

Information & Ethics committee  It's an injustice for a cabinet officer to be able to declare, no, and that the commissioner can't even look at it. That just destroyed public confidence in the integrity of the system. If you give a minister or the cabinet the broad ability to veto the release of information, I fear it would lower public confidence in the integrity of the system, more than anything else.

Information & Ethics committee  I've not been aware of it, so this is just an immediate reaction to your question. It would lower public confidence in it down to, perhaps, an unacceptable level. The mere fact that it can be done would be enough to damage the integrity of the system, in my view. I could it see at the federal level; I can't see it at a provincial level.

Information & Ethics committee  We had a great deal of discussion about the issue, as you can well imagine. It started at the outset with the commissioner complaining about the inordinate delays, of sometimes two, three, and four years, before the information was released—an incredible portion. All the details of what they were are in our report, so I don't want to go into them now, but the standard and times involved were so unacceptable that we couldn't let them remain.

Information & Ethics committee  Injury is obviously a consideration that must be taken into account. In the end we looked at applying the principle of a public interest override. We greatly expanded the public interest override. Even where there is an absolute right to entitlement—I've forgotten the phrase we used—if it could be clearly demonstrated that the public interest in disclosure outweighed the factors dictating non-disclosure, then it had to be disclosed in the public interest.

Information & Ethics committee  All information—

Information & Ethics committee  We added eight categories.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't recall that we had an extensive discussion on that issue specifically, but the standard that had been applied, which we didn't alter, was that any organization was subject to act if the majority of its board of directors was appointed by the government. If it was a non-profit organization that received money, the government appointed the majority of the board of directors or controlled it; but if it was a private organization, that's a different thing.

Information & Ethics committee  Doug.

Information & Ethics committee  Ladies and gentlemen, it's in your hands to decide what you want to hear from us.

Information & Ethics committee  We didn't remove all exemptions. There are certain things that so clearly and manifestly should not be subject to disclosure that they speak for themselves; you don't have to make the case. The most obvious one that I can think of is the preliminary police investigation of alleged crimes—for example, police reports that they file saying that they think Clyde Wells is guilty of a particularly offensive crime or robbery or fraud or whatever else.

Information & Ethics committee  Exemption from commissioner's review is different. We eliminated that because we felt the commissioner was a trusted servant of the public. Lawyers in the Department of Justice are entrusted with solicitor-client information. Why wouldn't the lawyers in the commissioner's office be entrusted with it?

Information & Ethics committee  I will explain our position at the outset.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, thank you very much. I want at the outset to emphasize, for the record and for the media and members of the public present, that we're here at the invitation of this committee. We're not here seeking to make a presentation on behalf of anybody, and in particular I want to emphasize for you that we are not speaking on behalf of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador or any agency of that government.