Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my hon. colleague on his first speech as the Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board. I just wish he had better content for his first speech.
Bill C-58 is such a massive disappointment. I have never seen a commissioner like the Privacy Commissioner pan legislation as this was panned. I have to confess that while I try to keep up with absolutely everything in this place, I have not seen if the Senate amendments are capable of making this bill worth supporting.
I read an article which says that the Liberals’ new freedom of information bill is garbage. I wonder if there is any reference that the hon. parliamentary secretary could direct us to from any impartial experts. Is there anything from a third party source that could be referenced at this point indicating that it is a substantial improvement?
Mr. Greg Fergus: Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the question from the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.
I can tell the hon. member that perhaps she should have kept up to date. I would not assume that she has not kept up to date, but she admitted she might not have kept up to date with the last little bit. As of May 14, the Information Commissioner actually had this to say before committee:
…the current version of the act is definitely a better bill than what we have currently….I think [the former commissioner's] call for changes has been responded to….I’m really hoping that Bill C-58 will be passed, yes….
I think we have done our duty. Is better always possible? Absolutely, and that is why we included a provision to take another look at the act a year after it receives royal assent and review the entire act every five years.
That way, we will avoid waiting 34 years to update a bill that is crucial to ensuring the people view the government as legitimate.
Good Sunday Morning – January 24
January 24th, 2021
Good Sunday Morning – January 10
January 10th, 2021
Good Sunday Morning – Jan 3
January 3rd, 2021
Good Sunday Morning – December 13
December 13th, 2020
Good Sunday Morning – December 6
December 6th, 2020
Good Sunday Morning – November 29
November 29th, 2020
Green Party calls on government to declare housing and homelessness national crises, clamp down on commodification of housing market
February 10th, 2021
Greens raising alarm on rapid erosion of public transportation across Canada
January 25th, 2021
Green Party urges focus and collaboration as MPs return to Parliament
January 24th, 2021
Greens join in multi-party press conference to mark the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons coming into force
January 21st, 2021
Green MPs Elizabeth May and Jenica Atwin recognized in Maclean’s 12th annual Parliamentarians of the Year awards
January 13th, 2021
Green Party condemns steady erosion of civil liberties in Hong Kong
January 6th, 2021
‘Twas just weeks before Christmas…
December 9th, 2020
Elizabeth asks Environment Minister to close Basel Convention loophole
December 9th, 2020
Elizabeth’s statement on the 50th anniversary of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women
December 7th, 2020
Green Caucus letter to Mins. Bains and O’Regan re: Small Modular Reactors
November 9th, 2020
Green Caucus stands in solidarity with pro-democracy protests in Bulgaria
September 14th, 2020
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