2008-2009 Parliamentary relations

As an officer of Parliament, the Commissioner enjoys a special rapport with Parliament. Parliamentarians rely on the Commissioner for objective advice about the need for legislative reform and, more generally, about implications of legislation, jurisprudence, regulations and policies on Canadians’ right to access government information. In addition, the Commissioner must account for the administration of his office on an annual basis. He made the following appearances before Parliament in 2008–2009:

• appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in April 2008 to discuss our spending estimates for the year;
• two appearances before the same committee in March 2009 to discuss our 2007–2008 annual report and future business, our most recent report cards process (see Chapter 4), as well as reform of the Access to Information Act (see Chapter 6); and
• appearance before the Advisory Panel on the Funding and Oversight of Officers of Parliament in March 2009 to present our review of resources and to seek the required funding for us to deliver on our mandate (see Chapter 9).