A tribute has to be made this week to departing New Brunswick Commissioner Anne Bertrand. In her seven years in the post, she tackled an amazing number of cases, some of which are nicely summarized in a news story below. She never shied away from a fight, and she made some pretty significant changes — particularly to the freedom of information side of things.

I know that, in particular, the smaller provinces in Canada have to find efficiencies within governmental roles. However, I was struck by the news that Bertrand’s replacement is not only the information commissioner, the privacy commissioner and the integrity commissioner but also the individual responsible for the lobbyist registry and the conflict of interest rules. Whoa! I’d say it takes a brave individual willing to take on all those meaningful and important positions.

Seeing as this is coming to you on the (unofficial) last Friday of the summer and a long weekend, I’ll stop here and let you catch up on the rest of the news. Have a great weekend and, remember, if you’re anywhere near the west coast next week, it’s our special KnowledgeNet in downtown Vancouver. Hope to see you there!