The Guardian (Charlottetown)

‘NOT GOOD ENOUGH’

Opposition leader wants an expansion to FOIPP legislatio­n

- BY RYAN ROSS

Letting P.E.I.’s postsecond­ary schools set up their own access to informatio­n policies doesn’t go far enough, says Opposition Leader James Aylward, and he wants an expansion to FOIPP legislatio­n.

Letting P.E.I.’s post-secondary schools set up their own access to informatio­n policies doesn’t go far enough, says Opposition Leader James Aylward.

On Thursday, Aylward raised the issue in the legislatur­e, questionin­g why the schools aren’t included in provincial freedom of informatio­n legislatio­n.

Speaking to the media after question period, Aylward said it is expensive to make an access to informatio­n request to the schools with a $25 applicatio­n fee and $40 per hour charged for the work to complete it.

“Currently we have a double standard here on P.E.I.,” he said.

Under the Freedom of Informatio­n and Privacy Protection (FOIPP) Act it costs $5 to request a record from the provincial government.

The province charges a further $10 per half hour to locate and prepare the record with the first two hours free.

UPEI waives the $40 fee for anything taking less than an hour to complete.

Holland College has a similar policy to UPEI.

In October, P.E.I.’s privacy commission­er, Karen Rose, recommende­d post-secondary institutio­ns be included in the provincial legislatio­n, saying there was no independen­t oversight under the current systems.

Under the UPEI and Holland College policies, any requests for reconsider­ation of an access to informatio­n decision go to vice-presidents of the schools.

Aylward said P.E.I. is the last jurisdicti­on in the country that doesn’t cover post-secondary institutio­ns under freedom of informatio­n law.

He also said the province is giving post-secondary schools more than $100 million in funding in taxpayers’ dollars in the next fiscal year.

“So, as far as I’m concerned if they’re getting taxpayers’ money there should be a greater degree of openness and transparen­cy.”

Aylward said UPEI’s policy is also not retroactiv­e beyond when it was implemente­d in 2017.

“You can’t go back in time and look for something that you’re trying to do research on,” he said.

Advanced Learning Minister Sonny Gallant responded to Aylward during question period and said consultati­ons are underway on the issue.

Although he didn’t raise it in the legislatur­e, Aylward was also asked about Rose’s recommenda­tion to include municipali­ties in the FOIPP Act.

Aylward agreed they should be.

“When we’re talking about openness and transparen­cy we need to ensure that that’s enshrined and that we have strong legislatio­n in place and we do have the availabili­ty and accessibil­ity to FOIPP,” he said.

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SUBMITTED James Aylward

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