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Robert Marleau

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Robert Marleau
Robert Marleau in 1988
1st Integrity Commissioner of the City of Ottawa
Assumed office
2012
Preceded bynew office
Interim Privacy Commissioner of Canada
In office
June 2003 – December 2003
Preceded byGeorge Radwanski
Succeeded byJennifer Stoddart
Information Commissioner of Canada
In office
2007–2009
Preceded byJohn Mercer Reid
Succeeded bySuzanne Legault
Clerk of the House of Commons of Canada
In office
1987–2000
Preceded byBev Koester
Succeeded byWilliam C. Corbett
Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons of Canada
In office
1983–1987
Serving with Mary Ann Griffith and Phillip Laundy
Personal details
BornCornwall, Ontario
Alma materUniversity of Ottawa

Robert Marleau CM, is a former Canadian federal public servant and former Information Commissioner of Canada.[1] Beginning in 1970, Marleau served 31 years in the Parliament of Canada, 13 of which were as the Clerk of the House of Commons from July 1987 to July 2000. From July 2000 until his retirement at the end of January 2001, he served as Senior Advisor to the Speaker of the House of Commons.

He came out of retirement to serve as Interim Privacy Commissioner and again as Information Commissioner from 2006 to 2009. In his own words, during this time he was "for proactive disclosure, ... for more communication, posting more on the websites, using informal communication methods rather than the Access to Information Act... It's not helpful to appear to be deliberately not communicating,"[2] Marleau resigned from his position in late June 2009, roughly midway through his term.[3] As part of a strongly worded criticism published by Bruce Campion-Smith, contemporary Ottawa Bureau Chief of the Toronto Star, he lamented one day prior to his resignation the decline of "effort by any government to have" the Access to Information Act or similar "processes keep pace with time, change and technology."[4]

As Chief Clerk of the House in 2000, he was the editor, along with Camille Montpetit, of House of Commons Procedure and Practice, First Edition, 2000., which is available both online and in print.[5] This work is part of an ongoing effort, begun in 1884 by Sir John George Bourinot, to document Canadian Parliamentary procedure.

Marleau earned a B.A. in French literature from the University of Ottawa. He received an honorary PhD in 2002.

In December 2016, Marleau was named a Member of the Order of Canada.[6]

See also

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Standard reference works on Canadian Parliamentary procedure have been written by other Clerks of the House, including

References

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  1. ^ the, House of Lords Select Committee on (February 2009). Surveillance: Citizens and the State. The Stationery Office. pp. 121–. ISBN 978-0-10-401425-7. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  2. ^ TS, 26 May 2008 "How Harper controls the spin"
  3. ^ National Post, "Federal information commissioner resigns suddenly" 22 Jun 2009
  4. ^ "Turned-off Canadians tuning out" TS 21 Jun 2009
  5. ^ Parliament of Canada, "House of Commons Procedure and Practice, First Edition, 2000"
  6. ^ "Order of Canada's newest appointees include Paralympian, Supreme Court judge and astrophysicist". CBC News, December 30, 2016.