Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, as I said in my opening remarks, I do stand behind the 12 quick fixes that were presented to this committee by Commissioner Marleau. It's obviously a matter for legislators to decide how they wish to reform the access to information regime at the federal level. From my end, my job is to implement the act as it currently stands, which I'm doing.

Information & Ethics committee  In terms of the internal audit function, when we speak about proactive disclosure, all the information in relation to the first audit is published. It was a very critical audit of our intake in early resolution function. As I said in my opening remarks, they highlighted to us several shortcomings in our new unit, which we addressed this summer and this fall.

Information & Ethics committee  We did only one this fiscal year. It was our first year with the internal audit function. We are reviewing our internal audit plan with committee members this fall. There hasn't been a final decision, to my recollection of our last meeting on interim audit, but we are debating whether we are going to do one or two a year.

Information & Ethics committee  I have had discussions with certain people in the States, with some people from the Carter Center--that's Jimmy Carter--that has a strong component of access to information, and also with the director of the justice department who is responsible for access to information within the Obama organization.

Information & Ethics committee  Right to Know Week originated in Bulgaria in 1999. The day of September 28 is actually Right to Know Day internationally. In Canada, we celebrate it as a weekly event. We collaborate with our provincial and territorial colleagues. It was significant this year because we were actually able to have a national event for the first time.

Information & Ethics committee  No, I wasn't aware of that.

Information & Ethics committee  No, I wouldn't call it sweeping. I would call a sweeping reform of the Access to Information Act in terms of coverage when the act actually covers anywhere people's and taxpayers' money is being spent--i.e., parliamentarians' administrative offices, courts' administrative offices, and so on.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, I will say, in all fairness, that it's true: 69 institutions were added. What I would also say, however...because this is very much at the forefront of what my office is going through right now. For instance, we added the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but we added them with an exclusion under the act.

Information & Ethics committee  They have accepted the recommendations. The first one was targeted at the 21 institutions. In terms of the statistics, I know that Treasury Board Secretariat is pursuing the collection of additional statistics. I have a letter in my office waiting for my signature because Treasury Board Secretariat has also consulted us in the matter.

Information & Ethics committee  It is Health Canada.

Information & Ethics committee  We're following through this year as part of our report card process, so when we publish our special report with our report cards, there will be the compte rendu, the summary of that follow-up that will be published in a special report.

Information & Ethics committee  It should be completed fairly soon, Mr. Chairman. As you know, the secretary of the Treasury Board changed, and we had a change in our office so we had to re-engage the conversation on the CAIRS file. That's what caused the additional delays. But it should be fairly soon; certainly before Christmas, I'm hoping.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, I would say it is very obvious, based on the report cars we prepared last year, that there is a lot of leadership in some departments and that makes a huge difference in terms of the application of the Act. For example, there is a lot of leadership in the Department of Justice, and that department achieves excellent access to information results.

Information & Ethics committee  There were essentially two reforms since 1983. There was the reform to add section 67 of the act, Madame Beaumier's private member's bill to make it a criminal offence to wilfully thwart the efforts of the Information Commissioner, and the Federal Accountability Act. The Federal Accountability Act, in my view, made numerous amendments.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, it's a fact that the Federal Accountability Act added 69 institutions to the coverage of the act.