Information Commissioner John Reid should have had his term extended for a year

"As a former Liberal cabinet minister, former opposition backbencher and former lobbyist for a powerful national association, John Reid thought he knew what he was getting into when he was named Canada's Information Commissioner, seven years ago.

He was wrong, Reid now admits.

He had no inkling that senior bureaucrats reached top-level decisions verbally to avoid leaving a paper trail. He never expected to fight an all-out court battle for access to something as innocuous as the Prime Minister's daily schedule.

Most of all, he did not realize how hard it was for ordinary Canadians to get scraps of ostensibly public information, gathered on their behalf with their tax dollars."
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So they voted to extend his term by one year and what happens?

"Points to consider:
* On June 15, 2005, the House of Commons voted 277 to 2, to concur in a report of its Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics that, "The appointment of John Reid, the Information Commissioner of Canada be extended by an additional term of one year, effective July 1, 2005. This recommendation would not preclude Parliament from further extending the appointment after the one year extension." Martin choose to ignore Parliament and provided only a three month extension for Reid.
* All ministers present (33) voted for the motion to extend Mr. Reid's term not by three months, but for a year. The ministers voting to extend Reid's term by a year included Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, Reg Alcock, Mauril Belanger, Carolyn Bennett, Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Claudette Bradshaw, Scott Brison, Aileen Carroll, Raymond Chan, Joe Comuzzi (since left cabinet), Irwin Cotler, Stephane Dion, Ujjal Dosanjh, Ken Dryden, John Efford, David Emerson, Joe Fontana, Liza Frulla, John Godfrey, Ralph Goodale, Bill Graham, Albina Guarnieri, Jean Lapierre, John McCallum, Joe McGuire, Andy Mitchell, Stephen Owen, Pierre Pettigrew, Geoff Regan, Lucienne Robillard, Belinda Stronach, Tony Valeri and Joe Volpe
* This is just the latest example of Martin ignoring the will of Parliament
* Three months means that Reid may not be around to oversee the planned overhaul of the Access to Information Act. Nor will he be able to pursue this case.