Information & Ethics committee  Fair enough. Actually, I think it's exactly as you stated it a few minutes ago. I have the legislation here, too. Go ahead.

Information & Ethics committee  This is the clause itself, Where the head of a public body may refuse to disclose information to an applicant under a provision listed...that discretionary exception shall not apply where it is clearly demonstrated that the public interest in disclosure of the information outwe

Information & Ethics committee  That's correct. We added it as well to the possible waiver of fees. We added it as well to cabinet confidences where the clerk might have been otherwise barred from releasing information but where it's felt that it's in the public interest that it should be released. I believe it

Information & Ethics committee  I think Ms. Stoddart was of the view that one of the things a lot of people passed over was that Bill 29,with all of its implications for access, actually advanced the cause of privacy in Newfoundland and Labrador substantially, because it modernized the whole privacy aspect of t

Information & Ethics committee  The other part of the fees aspect is that even if it turns out that certain fees should be charged, that matter can be appealed to the commissioner. The commissioner is the independent arbiter of whether the fee that's being estimated is a legitimate fee or not. All parts of the

Information & Ethics committee  I think something else that's worth thinking about are the various parts of the act that we recommended, such as the duty to assist. If I, as a citizen, make a request that will have three public servants working for eight months on my request, part of the duty to assist is to sa

Information & Ethics committee  I believe that the 700 number is the number of access to information requests in Newfoundland and Labrador, most of which will never cross the commissioner's desk because they're resolved with the provision of the information that people require. I'm not sure how many the commiss

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  I think that's what it came down to. We felt that was the logical place, because the Management of Information Act provides both for the creation and disposal of records at various times, when they're no longer needed, and so on. We thought that would be the ideal place to put it

Information & Ethics committee  Certainly, they would be competing themes—there's no question about that. I would go back to our view of what access to information is, which is to provide access to information held by public bodies in order to allow citizens to participate more fully in their democracy. I would

Information & Ethics committee  I believe it's part of the U.K. legislation. It's been used sparingly by the U.K. government. Even when it's used in the areas of national security and foreign affairs, it creates a loud public discussion. I don't want to give advice to the government on how to proceed, but the U

Information & Ethics committee  Not different, but fundamentally, I think when people ask for information they want it. Any process that becomes very legalistic and drawn out reduces and diminishes the public confidence in that law. We certainly saw that in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was clear from the peopl

Information & Ethics committee  In about eight categories.

Information & Ethics committee  Albeit not with respect to cabinet. However, we added that if the clerk of the cabinet felt that it was in the public interest to release cabinet information, even though there was a prohibition against it, they should do it. The public interest override in my view is a stream

Information & Ethics committee  I'm good. We'll react to whatever questions come our way.