Information watchdog says cash crunch endangers Canadians access rights

2014/11/12 Leave a comment

All too true. My experience with CIC ATIP confirms the delays and obfuscation:

“This growth in workload occurs in the context of significant financial restraint measures that have had a large impact on my budget,” Legault says in the report.

“With the incoming complaints volume showing no sign of abating, and with no financial flexibility, it is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to keep ahead of demand and respond to complainants in as timely a manner as possible.”

It means a gap of about six months between the time a complaint about lack of access to records is received and the time it is assigned to an investigator.

The commissioners budget must absorb salary increases next year, leaving her concerned “we have been stretched to the limit.”

“It is my responsibility to alert the government and Parliament to the risks that the organization is facing,” Legault adds in the report.

“Without additional funding, I will no longer be able to carry out my mandate responsibly and ensure full respect of Canadians rights of access to information. As such, I intend to seek the support of the Treasury Board to obtain the necessary financing.”

Information watchdog says cash crunch endangers Canadians access rights – Politics – CBC News.

Globe editorial in favour of more resources and better compliance with ATIP:

Response times have dropped disastrously as a consequence. Ms. Legault, in going public this week about the impact of the cutbacks, said the wait time between the filing of a complaint and the assigning of an investigator has reached six months. Her next move will be to make a formal request to the Treasury Board for more money. Treasury Board President Tony Clement has had no comment, so far.

Mr. Clement should give the Information Commissioner the resources she needs. Since taking power, the Harper government has focused on putting more information online and on launching its Open Government web portal. But those efforts, however worthwhile, will mean little if the government simultaneously makes it harder for Canadians to get information that has been classified or held back for political reasons – arguably the most important information of all in a free society. The Conservatives knew this in 2006; why don’t they know it now?

 Harper government cutbacks hurting access to info 

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Open government plan slams door on Access to Information Act reform – Politics – CBC News

2014/11/10 Leave a comment

Not a surprise.

But a good place to start would be with full and timely implementation, both in law and spirit, of the current Act:

The plan disappointed Duff Conacher, a board member of Democracy Watch, whose organization encouraged about 2,000 people to submit letters to Clements department advocating an overhaul of the law.

The group says the acts built-in exemptions — coupled with Legault’s inability to force departments to comply with the law — leave important files under wraps.

“The loopholes allow government to hide the information that shows corrupt, wasteful, abusive actions,” Conacher said.

“The Conservatives have ignored the call from most groups involved in this issue across the country for a stronger Access to Information Act and an information commissioner with enforcement powers.”

The NDP and Liberals have put forward private members bills to update the access law, but the legislative efforts havent been embraced by the Conservatives.

The government is “doing absolutely nothing” to modernize the act, said NDP digital issues critic Charmaine Borg, calling the lack of action “very problematic” and not “a road to real openness.”

Clement said the government is concentrating on making progress on the existing access law.

“The structure of the act, I think, is basically a good structure.”

Open government plan slams door on Access to Information Act reform – Politics – CBC News.

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Among the Harper governments list of secrets: Soldiers on Viagra

2014/09/16 Leave a comment

Not exactly in keeping with the spirit of the Accountability Act:

There were 61 complaints last year to Suzanne Legault, the country’s information commissioner, about the cabinet confidence clause, almost twice the number in 2012. Figures from the commissioner’s office show it used the exclusion 2,117 times in 2012-13, a 20 per cent increase over the year before.

More recent data won’t be available until end of 2014, Legault told The Canadian Press in an interview.

She is concerned, however, about how wide-ranging the definition of a cabinet secret has become, especially since once the exclusion is declared, not even she can see the documents in question.

“When you look at the scope of the exclusion, it is extremely broad,” Legault said.

“It’s very, very broad. It basically catches anything that mentions a record that’s a cabinet confidence. In my view, the actual scope of this does not respect fundamental tenets of freedom of information.”

Media outlets aren’t the only ones for whom the flow of information in Ottawa has slowed to a trickle. Watchdog agencies like the auditor general, the military ombudsman and the parliamentary budget officer are also complaining.

Auditor general Michael Ferguson said last spring that his attempts to audit the long-term health of public pension plans had been stymied by bureaucrats at Finance and Treasury Board.

Ferguson said he was “surprised” at the scope of information officials refused to disclose.

Kevin Page, who took the Harper government to federal court when he was parliamentary budget officer, said the law needs a major overhaul.

“Under my time as the budget officer we were told on numerous occasions — from crime bills to elements of the government’s economic forecast to departmental spending restraint plans post budget 2012 — that Parliament and the PBO could not get access to information because it was a cabinet confidence,” Page said.

“The stakes were high. The government was asking Parliament to vote on bills without relevant financial information and were hiding behind the veil of cabinet confidence. This undermined accountability for Parliament and the accountability of the public service.”

Among the Harper governments list of secrets: Soldiers on Viagra.

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Suzanne Legault warns of growing federal government secrecy

2014/06/07 Leave a comment

Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault confirming what we all know: that ATIP is broken and many departments are not in compliance with the principles and requirements of ATIP.

Not surprised to see CIC on the list of one of the worst departments in this regard as my experience indicates (still have an outstanding request for over a year for information that should have been released a long-time ago).

But Legault omits to mention the Government’s complicity for a culture of secrecy and lack of openness, and how this affects the public service role:

Legault blamed a lack of leadership toward transparency at the political level and within the senior ranks of some departments and agencies for creating an environment where the tendency is to try to keep information under lock and key.

“The main reason why the system is fragile and volatile is because for some reason, leadership in the institutions varies,” she said.

“When there is not very strong leadership at all levels of an institution in favour of timely transparency, we see institutions falter on releasing information. When we have strong leadership within the institutions, usually institutions perform well.”

Among the worst performers last year were Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the RCMP, Transport Canada and the Department of National Defence.

The federal Access to Information Act was introduced in 1985 and has remained largely unchanged since then despite frequent criticisms that the system is broken.

Legault writes in her report that real improvement to the access system will only come by modernizing the law, which she described as “a long-overdue step that is crucial to advancing the cause of transparency and accountability in Canada.

”In the House of Commons, Treasury Board President Tony Clement defended the government’s record on access to information Thursday, saying it had responded to more requests than previous governments combined.

“The total number of access to information requests that have been replied to since 1983, 50 per cent of them have been replied to by this government. We have replied to more access to information requests than the Trudeau, Mulroney, Turner, Campbell, Chrétien and Martin governments combined. That is our record on access to information and we are darn proud of it.”

Suzanne Legault warns of growing federal government secrecy | Ottawa Citizen.

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Audit slams feds’ ‘Open Data’ performance

2014/06/06 Leave a comment

Unfortunate, as paper (and pdfs) make an unnecessary complication to analyze data.

CIC publishes many operational stats in electronic format, making it easy to analyse. More formal ATIP requests are either paper or pdfs, inserting a tedious step of conversion.

Have a few new ATIP requests with the provinces (for data) and will see what comes back (have requested electronic format):

Newspapers Canada directly tested federal, provincial and municipal transparency laws with almost 400 formal requests for information last October and November, the 10th annual audit carried out by the organization.

This years version added 172 requests for electronic data sets, requiring the information to be provided in a format that can be digested and manipulated by computer.

Most government bodies fell short, many insisting on providing the data requested on paper, or providing it in the electronic equivalent of a photo — impossible to process in a spreadsheet or database program.

Among the worst performers were some departments of the federal government, which has been promoting its Open Data agenda as evidence of transparency, including the proactive posting of some 200,000 data sets online.

The audit found that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s own department, the Privy Council Office, refused to release any information in electronic format, insisting on paper printouts.

Audit slams feds’ ‘Open Data’ performance | National Newswatch.

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Access to information at ‘serious risk,’ watchdog warns – Politics – CBC News

2013/10/18 Leave a comment

More on just how broken our access to information system is. While the basic issue of not enough resources to process requests predates the current government, the delays and inability to respond to requests has gotten worse under the current government. Given that one of the reasons they were elected in the first place was for  accountability, ironic that one of the cornerstones of accountability, transparency, has been undermined.

Access to information at ‘serious risk,’ watchdog warns – Politics – CBC News.

I have still not received any documents from my current ATIP request, submitted 24 April. My last communication with ATIP dates from 12 August, saying still waiting for feedback from CIC and other departments.

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Canada’s info czar warns against federal government’s new obstructive tactics – The Globe and Mail

2013/09/27 Leave a comment

More on just how broken Canada’s Access to Information system is. So much for government accountability.

Canada’s info czar warns against federal government’s new obstructive tactics – The Globe and Mail.

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The access-to-information system is busting: information czar – National | Globalnews.ca

2013/09/12 Leave a comment

A systemic issue for the government, one that undermines government accountability to citizens.

My own experience under the Access to Information Act only confirms that the system is broken and unable to meet its statutory obligations. Will post a log shortly on the delays, obfuscation and excuses used in not fulfilling a legitimate ATIP request.

Not a high point for the government.

The access-to-information system is busting: information czar – National | Globalnews.ca.

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Release of government documents backlogged

2013/09/03 Leave a comment

My own experience with ATIP reveals a similar lack of compliance with the statutory requirements of the Act. Not a good example of government accountability or transparency.

Release of government documents backlogged.

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ATIP Documents – Batch 2 – Delayed

2013/07/24 Leave a comment

Now formally overdue as of 22 July.

But with a perverse sense of humour – sending me the English and French 2010 Discover Canada citizenship study guide, a public document. Waste of postage.

Meanwhile we wait some substantive documents.

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