Information & Ethics committee  He has a right to know, and if he wishes to exercise it and say that he has a need to know, then that could happen.

Information & Ethics committee  I can clarify on that. The delegation instruments go to individuals and not to offices and support staff, so the individual who has a right to know is the minister. The special assistant who comes down asking does not have a right to know.

Information & Ethics committee  The delegation instruments are available, but the delegation--and I can't speak across the 180, and Mr. Lemieux may be able to clarify for me--as far as we know, does not ever go into the minister's staff. It is there with the minister, with the individual there, and then it goes to the ATIP coordinator or to the variety of ATIP coordinators, depending upon the structure there, but it does not flow through to political staff.

Information & Ethics committee  I'll make a comment, and I'm sure Mr. Lemieux will want to comment, as well. There is a right to know, just because of the way delegation flows. There is a need to know. That right to know is a right to know that exists for that individual as a minister of that particular department and agency.

Information & Ethics committee  This is not a practice we are in any way familiar with. This is something that is clearly in violation of the Privacy Act and all of the guidelines and directions we have put in place. Privacy coordinators and ATIP coordinators in departments know full well that a practice like that would not be condoned.

Information & Ethics committee  Beyond the case that was raised in testimony on Monday by Mr. Leadbeater, I'm not aware of any cases that have taken place in the administration of this.

Information & Ethics committee  That is correct. The President of the Treasury Board asked that we do so. Fortunately we were in the process as well, but that is why it was out on September 21.

Information & Ethics committee  We were very much on the same track. As Mr. Lemieux said, he has worked in this area for quite a while. I've been in the chief information officer branch for a while. This legislation is something we value a lot, and we value the professional administration of it as well.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. There was also a more detailed e-mail that we sent to the ATIP coordinators themselves.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, I saw it after the media articles. I asked to see if I could see a copy of this particular e-mail to look at exactly what it did say and how it was phrased and what's happening on this--so we can actually figure out how we should respond as a policy centre.

Information & Ethics committee  Absolutely. It was after the story broke.

Information & Ethics committee  The concern, I guess, was already raised. By the time I saw it, I believe the President of the Treasury Board and the Privacy Commissioner had already talked, and they had indicated that there was an investigation under way. Therefore, I knew someone was going to get to the bottom of it who had the resources and the responsibility for it.

Information & Ethics committee  I heard about the exchanges. I didn't watch them in detail. I heard that there were exchanges.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't know the details, really, beyond what you've read out there, and now that you read the e-mail.... I didn't remember who had actually sent it, but I actually did see a copy of that e-mail. What does happen, if I can speak to the generalities around it, is that there are a limited number of journalists who write on fairly predictable subjects time after time.

Information & Ethics committee  We've not attempted to gather information on that, in that the Privacy Commissioner had initiated something there at the behest of or after discussions with the President of the Treasury Board. From that perspective, I don't know the details on that one at all, and so I really couldn't speak to that, Mr.