Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, I am really not part of that process.

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  Persons who also are filling interim positions?

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, of course. I am normally Assistant Information Commissioner. I therefore certainly do not have a joint commissioner elsewhere within the organization. Operationally speaking, it is certainly more difficult.

Information & Ethics committee  That is a good question. I will have to come back to you on this. I know that, in the case of the Department of National Defence, this has been the case for quite some time now. In the case of ACOA, I am not sure.

Information & Ethics committee  The act provides for numerous discretionary exemptions. When it is a matter of disclosing information, there are many discretionary exemptions. It must be determined if the information should be disclosed or not. That depends on the circumstances at the time the access request is made.

Information & Ethics committee  I believe it is important to retain this discretionary power, because, when an exemption is invoked, it is obviously contextual.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, we recommend that there be a public interest test and a test allowing for an analysis of the harm that could result from disclosure. These are international principles, that are in addition to the analysis done. It is not simply a matter of discretion, but we also want to determine if it is in the public interest that information be disclosed and if disclosure might cause harm.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, I think this is a very good question. If we start overloading people with information, it becomes not useful. One of the concepts in the open government plan in the U.S., which I think is something that's really interesting to look at when we look at disclosure of information, is that they have the concept of high-value information.

Information & Ethics committee  --as a way of doing our government business.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. Last summer, the government made an interest call. I applied, it is not a secret, because I spoke of this openly to all of those who questioned me in this regard. In September, I was contacted in order to determine if I was willing to accept that my mandate be renewed for an additional six-month period.

Information & Ethics committee  There is an obligation under the Access to Information Act to publish an annual report on performance of access to information obligations, for each institution covered by the legislation.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't know that there is a specific requirement in the DPR for that. There is not one that I know of.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure I understand the question. How what comes to be?