Remarks to the Advisory Panel on the Funding of Officers of Parliament

OTTAWA, ONTARIO

[2005-11-24]

Mr. Chairman, honourable members of the Advisory Panel on funding of Officers of Parliament.

This is an historic occasion, one I and my predecessors have fought for – long and hard.  Through this pilot-project – this Parliamentary Advisory Panel – there is, for the first time, a mechanism for review of the resource needs of Officers of Parliament which is independent of government.  I urge this panel to be as transparent as possible during this pilot-project and conduct its meetings in public unless compelling reasons dictate otherwise.

For many years I and my predecessors have raised alarms that governments were effectively neutering the Office of the Information Commissioner by starving it of resources.  Year after year, the backlog of incomplete investigations has grown; year after year, the time it takes to complete investigations has increased.  Over time, dwindling resources have been shifted to the core business resulting in the loss of research capacity; public outreach capacity; the capacity to provide timely advice to Parliamentary committees on matters affecting access to information and the capacity to keep current with investigation tools and training needs.

Again this year we prepared a Treasury Board submission seeking the bare minimum to ensure that my office can discharge its statutory mandate – and it is that submission with its supporting business case, which we provided to this panel and which we encourage this panel to support.  For 2006-2007 we seek an increase of $3,163,826 and $3,088,093 for 2007-2008 (excluding accommodation) – for 2008-2009 we anticipate a resource requirement of $3,113,505 and the ongoing increment into future years we are seeking is $2,364,763 (excluding accommodation).

The officials of my office have had discussions with TBS officials – we have areas of agreement and disagreement.  For FY 2006-2007 we have agreed on approximately 78% of our resource request and for 2007-2008 we agree on approximately 65% of our resource request.  But the differences are in critical areas; they concern the number of investigators we require to handle ongoing workload and dispose of the backlog of incomplete requests.  For FY 2006-2007 in the investigations area we are asking for 21 additional investigative staff and an additional 2 in FY 2007-2008.  TBS supports an increase of 15 in FY 2006-2007 and no additional investigative staff in 2007-2008.

This difference of view as to what resources I need to conduct my core, investigative business, starkly illustrates why I worry about the government’s motives and why I welcome the opportunity to have this Parliamentary Panel give its persuasive advice to the government.

May I cede the remainder of my time for opening remarks to my Deputy Commissioner who will explain the documentation he has provided and the elements of our resource request.