Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on October 10, 1996, the committee of the whole considered Tabled Document 89-13(3), the Report of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Access to Information and the Protection of Privacy.
The Committee passed a number of resolutions recommending certain amendments to the legislation. The first of these concerned the appointment of a contract Information and Privacy Commissioner, with a term to end by March 31, 1999. This would take into account division of the Territories, and allow for the appointment of a Commissioner under contract, similar to what is done in Saskatchewan. This would necessitate an amendment to change the term of the first appointee from five years to a term which would expire no later than March 31, 1999.
An amendment is also required to remove the provision in the act which states that the employees of the Information and Privacy Commissioner are public servants. The second recommendation of the working group and the committee of the whole was to remove the requirement to include in the directory, a general description of the categories of records and the custody or under the control of each public body. Members felt that developing and maintaining a directory of files is a very costly and time-consuming process. It would lead to the creation of a system of records which would become largely obsolete in less than three years, owing to division. Other jurisdictions have determined that the directory is not used very extensively by the public. However, a directory will be produced which contains the list of all public bodies and the name and address of the contact person for each public body. This aspect of the directory should be useful to members of the public and it can be produced at a limited cost.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to express my appreciation for the carefully considered work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Access to Information and the Protection of Privacy, which is reflected in this bill.
I will be happy to answer any questions, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.