Mr. Rob Wright:

I was called the "Deputy Minister". In Canada that is what they would call a Secretary General. It is the interface between the rest of the Department and the Minister.

To the Senator's question - I am sorry I am going on a little bit, but I think this is a vital piece - we had heard from other Secretaries General that the freedom of information had constrained their written record as well. We had also heard from the former Comptroller and Auditor General, who has now retired but is a very impressive man, that indeed there is a systemic issue of written record in government about which he is concerned.

So we made that observation and I have reinforced it with the Department in an important way because an important part of how a professional, world-class Department of Finance works is to say, "Here is our advice. You know what it is. We're on the record." A Minister does not want casual observations. Some Ministers operate in different ways. I have worked with Ministers who really wanted to sit down and talk with the team about options and everything. I have worked with other Ministers who might say, "Put yourself on the spot, Deputy Minister. You give me written advice on what you think and if I agree with it we'll do it. I don't want to waste time. If I don't agree with it, we'll come and talk about it." There is a great discipline to writing down. It is also very important to the overall enterprise of this knowledge institution. The Department of Finance officials should know what one is trying to achieve and should know where one stands on these issues and written records help everyone know that.