Agreed.
---Agreed
Debates of Oct. 14th, 1994
Topics
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
Some Hon. Members
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
The Chair John Ningark
Clause 28.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
---Agreed
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Clause 29.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
---Agreed
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Clause 30.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
---Agreed
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Clause 31.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
---Agreed
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
The Chair John Ningark
Clause 32.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 291
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
---Agreed
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Clause 33.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
---Agreed
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Clause 34.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
---Agreed
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Clause 35.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
---Agreed
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
The Chair John Ningark
Clause 36.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
---Agreed
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
The Chair John Ningark
I have Mr. Arvaluk and Mr. Patterson. Mr. Patterson.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
Dennis Patterson Iqaluit
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps I should have asked this one under general comments, but it has to do with the Information and Privacy Commissioner. I just want to ask one question about this. Mr. Chairman, I had a chance to review the private Members' bill Mr. Gargan tabled which was defeated in July 1991. I notice it was only 11 pages long. This bill we're dealing with is 44 pages long. I understand that the reason the bill before the House is so much longer is that Mr. Gargan's bill had government departments responsible for giving out information rather than this Information and Privacy Commissioner.
I'd just like to ask the Minister, Mr. Chairman...This Information and Privacy Commissioner and the bureaucracy have annual costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Do we really need them? Couldn't you just require, as Mr. Gargan's bill did, each government department, by law, to be forced to give out this information and go to the courts to force it if they don't? I would just like to know, couldn't we save ourselves a whole lot of money and extra clauses and a whole lot of bureaucracy by dispensing with this office and just getting each government department and each deputy minister accountable for delivering information within their existing departmental resources. Why was that rejected in designing this bill?
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
The Chair John Ningark
Qujannamiik. Mr. Minister.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
Mr. Chairman, there are a couple of differences with the original initiative by Mr. Gargan three years ago. This bill here is much more specific in the definition of what can and can't be done, and what is limited and what is accessible and under what conditions. This also provides for the element of privacy which was not a major element in the original initiative by Mr. Gargan. It provided largely for access,
but did not give provisions for protecting the privacy of individuals and third parties.
The other element is that this bill provides for the creation of an office of Commissioner and that was not provided for. Other than that, the original initiative was very general in nature compared to what we have here. It's true, this is very specific and therefore much longer. Thank you.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
The Chair John Ningark
Mahsi cho. Clause 37, Mr. Patterson.
Committee Motion 20-12(6): To Amend Clause 7, Carried
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 292
Dennis Patterson Iqaluit
If I could just get an answer to one part that wasn't answered. We have a Privacy Commissioner. I see the pay is over $100,000 a year. Do we really need that? Why can't we just require, by law, that every government department is required to deliver this information? Mr. Lewis said the other day it's there, it's a matter of faxing or Xeroxing the information. Why don't we just require every department, by law, to give out this stuff? Why do we need a Commissioner and staff and an independent officer to do that? Why not keep it simple, cheap, and just make it a requirement of each deputy minister and his department to develop the mechanism to deliver that information? Wouldn't that be a cheaper, easier way of doing it? Thank you.