Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, and I have provided you with those documents. In fact, over the last year, the total number of complaints dropped by 1%. It has fluctuated between 1% and 4% in the last five years and it is declining. In the documents I distributed to you, you will see a graph indicating, in

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, and I can tell you anecdotally, even though I don't have the specific data, that Andrea and myself noticed, when we looked at this year's complaints, that a number of complainants tell institutions they want to consult certain documents, but not those subject to Cabinet conf

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct. However, in this year's performance report, the Privy Council indicated to us that it would be significantly improving those timelines. We will follow up next year to see whether that is the case.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's very clear in the Act: my primary mandate is really to carry out investigations when I receive complaints about the handling of access to information requests by federal institutions covered under the legislation. We receive approximately 1,800 complaints each year in the la

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, everyone. Mr. Chair, I do not have prepared speaking notes for the committee this morning, but what we have now distributed to the members is actually a detailed backgrounder in terms of how cabinet confidences are considered by my office, a

Information & Ethics committee  The only thing I would add, Mr. Chairman, is what I've said before. All of the information we've gathered on this issue we've gathered from a lot of people in Canada who are experts in the field. I think they would have much valuable insight to add to the work of the committee. T

Information & Ethics committee  This is an excellent suggestion. It was published when the resolutions were made with the commissioners, but it was not directed toward any other authority. I will do that.

Information & Ethics committee  They certainly are, you are perfectly right, I will do it.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, I agree entirely with the honourable member. I do not have that mandate. I certainly would like to have it—

Information & Ethics committee  I would be very happy to have it, but I do not have it. I have no mandate to do research, policy development or education. I have no personnel mandated to do such research. I have a mandate to investigate. I consider that as the ombudsman, I play my role by influencing government

Information & Ethics committee  This is a good question. In fact, I did not send this to the Prime Minister's Office.

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  Parliament gave me my mandate.

Information & Ethics committee  I certainly do.