The Committee, newly established by all-party agreement at the beginning of
the first session of the 38th Parliament, held its first meeting in October
2004. The Committee’s mandate gives it responsibility for matters related to: Canada’s Information and Privacy Commissioners; the Ethics Commissioner, with respect to his or her responsibilities under the Parliament of Canada Act relating to public office holders; and reports of the Registrar for Lobbyists, tabled pursuant to the Lobbyists Registration Act.
All three Commissioners’ Estimates are referred to the Committee.
During its first Parliament in operation, the Committee met many times with
these three Commissioners on their Estimates and annual reports, as well as
on other issues related to their Offices. The Committee also had several meetings
with the Registrar for Lobbyists on his annual reports and on changes to the Lobbyists
Registration Act and the Lobbyists Registration Regulations.
The Committee’s most extensive study resulted in its May 2005 report entitled A
New Process for Funding Officers of Parliament. In
that report, the Committee concluded that the budget-determination process
for the funding of Officers of Parliament gave rise to a perception
that the critical functions of these Officers could be impeded by budgetary
restrictions imposed by the very body whose actions they are charged with
scrutinizing. The Committee recommended that a new permanent parliamentary
body be created as the budget-determination mechanism for the funding of
all Officers of Parliament, and that the Board of Internal Economy serve
as the parliamentary budget-determination body for the Offices of the Information,
Privacy and Ethics Commissioners on a trial basis. Implementation of these
recommendations has begun.
In the spring and fall of 2005, the Committee met several times on the subject
of reform of the Access to Information Act. In its final report
of the 38th Parliament, the Seventh
Report, the Committee recommended
that the Justice Minister consider the advisability of introducing, before
the end of the session, legislation in the House of Commons based on a draft
bill presented to the Committee by the Information Commissioner.
The bill, entitled the “Open Government Act,” was drafted by the Commissioner
with the assistance of the Legislative Counsel of the House of Commons.