Unfortunately, I think we don't have the same indicators to measure them, but I think the Canadian government is doing fairly well.
When I make my reports, I focus, of course, and a lot of senior civil servants then get back to me, saying, “We did all these things well, and why are you just focusing on the part that we didn't do well?” Well, that's kind of my role. But overall I think the Canadian government has a good record in personal information handling.
Certainly senior civil servants are very aware of this issue and very sensitive to this issue. I think we're struggling a bit now because we don't have modernized approaches and modernized laws. We need, as I said, a little more leadership from Treasury Board, but then we remember that government and places like the income tax department have been dealing with confidentiality for years and years.
There are some places in the private sector, but not banks.... You can say that banks have been dealing with confidentiality, but they probably haven't been dealing with the sophisticated security issues the public sector has. That may be a bit ahead of them because of the strategic and military experience of the Canadian government.
I think the Canadian government stands up quite well when you look across the world at how various governments use their information, and it stands up well in comparison with our own private sector. It also stands up well in its respect for privacy rights of citizens generally. I'm not saying there aren't things that can be improved, but this traditionally has been an important part of Canadian life.