Annual Report: 2004-2005

In his first Annual Report to Parliament (1998-1999), this commissioner suggested that the responsibility for overseeing his office should be moved from the busy Standing Committee on Justice and the Solicitor General to a committee more able to concern itself with access to information matters. In 2002, the commissioner commenced reporting to a committee called the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. After the election of a minority Liberal government in 2004, a new committee was formed and named: the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. Already, since that committee’s creation, the Information Commissioner has appeared several times to give evidence with respect to his 2004-05 spending estimates, his 2003-04 annual report, and on issues of new funding mechanisms for officers of Parliament and reform of the Access to Information Act.

In this latter regard, the new committee has made it a priority to ensure that the Access to Information Act is modernized and strengthened - whether or not the Minister of Justice brings forward a reform bill, as promised. This increased level of parliamentary interest in, and scrutiny of, the operations of the Access to Information Act is a very positive sign of parliamentary leadership in nurturing the public’s right to know.