Well, as it now
stands, because the archivist doesn't have the authority to go and sample the minister's records to say, “Look, you're really not just taking your personal and political, you're taking departmental”, and because ministers have a direct control over archivists and I do not mean to question the integrity of any archivist, but it is the reality of the situation that's a situation of direct possibility for influence and improper decision-making under the act, which could be helped by an independent archivist who would be empowered to go in and look at the records if there's a complaint and to speak up and speak their mind wit
...[+++]hout any fear of reprisal (0950) Hon. John Reid: This is why I am so concerned about the definition of documents in here, where a document becomes private property of the minister by virtue of its geographic location.
Dans l'état actuel des choses, l'archiviste n'a pas le pouvoir de vérifier les dossiers du ministre et de lui faire remarquer, le cas échéant, qu'il n'emporte pas seulement des documents personnels et politiques mais aussi des documents ministériels. Or, les ministres exerçant un contrôle direct sur les archivistes, et je ne remet pas en cause ici l'intégrité des archivistes, mais la situation est ce qu'elle est, il existe une possibilité réelle d'influence et de décision indues en vertu de la loi.