OTHER VIEWS Murky transparency

If the federal government is using our outdated and ineffective access-to-information system as a “shield against transparency,” as Canada’s information watchdog recently claimed, then new rules tabled this week will do little to pierce the opacity of its highest offices.

By failing to extend the Access to Information Act to cover the offices of the prime minster and his cabinet, the Trudeau Liberals have backtracked on their much-touted commitment to open government.

The new legislation, the first major update to the act since it was passed more than 30 years ago, does offer a number of welcome and significant improvements to the current system.

What the legislation doesn’t do, however, is extend the disclosure rules to PMO or cabinet documents — one of the recommendations put forth a year ago by a House of Commons committee. Instead, the Liberals have tried to placate the public and transparency advocates by including a measure that would force ministerial offices to “proactively disclose” certain information.

The Trudeau government’s half-measures on transparency are hardly surprising. Every opposition party calls for a brighter spotlight to be shone on the current government, only to resist the glare once it’s in power. It’s no wonder it took 34 years to update our access to information laws. Democracy may love transparency, but governments generally do not. Toronto Star