‘Culture of delay’ must go, MPs told
Information czar recommends 85 changes to law to open up access
Criticizing the current system as “a culture of delay,” federal information commissioner Suzanne Legault on Tuesday tabled her special report to modernize the Access to Information Act.
After two years of consultations and study of international access laws, Legault introduced 85 recommendations that, if implemented, would help fix an act that has become “a shield against transparency.”
The act has been roundly criticized for enabling institutions to delay the timely disclosure of information, not giving the information commissioner power to enforce sanctions or penalties, and not covering new forms of communication, such as instant messaging.
The current act was created in 1983, long before the current move to online and digital communications and data storage.
“With new technologies, new demands and new expectations of citizens, it is my view that the act does not strike the right balance between Canadians’ right to know and legitimate protection of information,” she said. “Having a modern access law would assist Canadians in exercising their right to know.”
The recommendations in the report call for numerous reforms, such as extended coverage to all institutions wholly or partly publicly funded or controlled. For example, Parliament, which is funded by $500 million of public money, is currently not covered by the Act.
The report recommends changing from an ombudsman model to an order-making model, where the commissioner would receive appeals and act as adjudicator and mediator.
They would have the power to order the institution to disclose requested information based on the issues in the appeal.
In 2006, the Conservative government promised to make a number of reforms the Access to Information Act, but most have not been implemented.
“Our government takes Canadians’ right of access to information very seriously and has taken important steps in the last few years in support of that right,” said Tony Clement, president of the Treasury Board. “I thank the information commissioner for her report and am currently reviewing her recommendations.”
NDP access-to-information critic Charlie Angus says that the findings in Legault’s report indicate serious failings of our access system under the watch of the Treasury Board.
“There’s a pattern of obstruction, there’s a pattern of delays and she (Legault) doesn’t have the ability to hold the government to
There’s a pattern of obstruction, there’s a pattern of delays and she doesn’t have the ability to hold the government to account.
account,” he said.
“That’s a very troubling development for democratic accountability in this country.”
On Tuesday night, Liberal MPs are holding a debate on Justin Trudeau’s private member’s bill, Bill C-613, also known as the Transparency Act, which will propose amendments to the Access to Information Act.
The proposed amendments include making the meetings of the secretive Board of Internal Economy more open, expanding coverage of the Act to all government institutions, and giving the information commissioner power to issue orders.
“For us, opening up government and opening up Parliament is definitely a priority,” said Cameron Ahmad, press secretary for the Liberal Party.
“There’s definitely a link between the suggestions (Legault has) made, and suggestions in the leader’s private member’s bill.”