Tories taking Liberals to court for ferry details

Houston says Nova Scotians ‘fed up’ with the secrecy of Stephen McNeil’s government

Nova Scotia’s PC caucus in the legislature is taking the Liberal government to court in an effort to get details of the deal the province cut with Bay Ferries to operate the Yarmouth-to-Maine ferry.

Progressive Conservative and Opposition Leader Tim Houston made the announcement Sunday at the close of the Tories’ annual meeting in Halifax.

“Nova Scotians should not have to take their own government to court to find out how their tax dollars are being spent,” Houston said. But, in this case, the government has left no other option.

The Tories have been trying to get the financial details of the ferry deal since the spring of 2016 when they filed a Freedom of Information request. The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal has steadfastly refused to release the value of management and incentive fees it pays Bay Ferries.

The Tories appealed the department’s decision to the province’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Commissioner Catherine Tully, who found the government had no justification under the Freedom of Information law to deny access to that information.

“There is a justifiably high democratic expectation of transparency around the expenditure of public money,” Tully said in her report, which concluded that the government’s arguments to withhold the information fell well short of the standard established in the law.

Nova Scotia’s creaky, 25-year-old Freedom of Information law affords little real power to the commissioner, whose findings are not binding on the government. When the government ignores her and refuses to disclose information as it did in this case, an appeal to the courts is the only avenue left open.

“The Liberals are betting on the fact that most Nova Scotians don’t have the resolve or resources to get a lawyer and begin legal proceedings,” Houston said.

And he’s right. Putting the onus on citizens to initiate legal action to gain access to public information is a major flaw in the Nova Scotia FOI law.

The PC caucus planned to file the notice of appeal on Monday and will eventually go to court armed with Tully’s report and finding that the government’s stated reasons for withholding the financial details just don’t hold water.

The government claimed, initially, that disclosure of the fees would somehow harm the province economically. Later, the department added that the disclosure could harm Bay Ferries’ competitive position.

The government will no doubt hone those arguments before presenting them to a judge. To date its case has been both inconsistent and convoluted. It even involves a mathematical equation that Tully took the time to disprove.

The Tories obviously feel the Liberal government is vulnerable to the charge that it is secretive and increasingly unaccountable.

The party issued a news release Sunday that listed examples of “a disturbing pattern of secrecy (in) the Liberal government.”

The list includes recent changes forced on legislative committees by the Liberal majority that limit both the scope of the committees’ work and the time they have to examine the government’s decisions and deeds.

Houston says Nova Scotians are “fed up” with the secrecy of Stephen McNeil’s Liberal government.

“They promised to be the most open and transparent government in history . . . but what they delivered is the most secretive government in history.”

The nagging question about the McNeil government, he said, has become “what are they hiding.”

The Public Accounts for the province show payments to Bay Ferries of just over $13 million in 2016; more than $10 million in 2017, and almost $14 million in 2018. Those totals include operating subsidies as well as the management and other fees paid to Bay Ferries. The Conservatives want the details broken out so Nova Scotians can see how much is a subsidy of the operation and how much is profit for the operator.

In 2016, the province cut a 10year deal with Bay Ferries to provide ferry service between Portland, Maine and Yarmouth. Bay Ferries intends to move the operation out of Portland to Bar Harbour this summer.

The Tories are positioning the court challenge as a stand against government secrecy. It is a symbolic stand in that it will only affect the outcome of one Freedom of Information dispute.

But at least the Tories are trying to light a candle, rather than just curse the darkness.