“(The current legislation is) no longer adequate in 2013. I think Canadians actually want to have high levels of accountability systems, for anywhere that their taxpayer dollars are being spent,” Information Commissioner of Canada Suzanne Legault said in a telephone interview Thursday.
Legault, who has been in the role 2 ½ years, is midway through a sweeping review of federal access legislation.
Legault said her fall report will probably include a recommendation to amend the Access to Information Act so MPs are included. It’s the same recommendation Ontario’s commissioner, Ann Cavoukian, made this week to the provincial government in response to a series of Toronto Star stories.
In July 2011, the Star filed an appeal with Cavoukian’s office after city officials rejected a freedom of information request from the Star for records held by Councillor Doug Ford’s office. An adjudicator upheld the city’s ruling, stating that under current laws, municipal councillors are not considered city employees — unlike the mayor.
On Wednesday, Cavoukian sent letters to the ministers of government services and municipal affairs and housing requesting the province investigate amendments to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to cover councillors.
Typically, elected officials in Canada are not subject to access legislation. There are some exceptions in some provinces, but none of the leading experts contacted by the Star over the past two weeks had a clear picture of what goes on across the country.
That confusion, says Legault, is a big part of the problem.
“We have a complete patchwork and types of either legislation or policies, both formal and informal. It’s very difficult for citizens to actually hold their elected officials accountable because the rules differ at the municipal, provincial and federal level and they differ between provinces,” she said.
Federal access legislation is about three decades old. Ontario laws are a few years behind that. And the municipal act — which not all provinces have — came a few years after that.
In the early days, Canada was a leader in government transparency, but over the years we have fallen drastically behind, Legault said.
Last year, the Halifax-based Centre for Law and Democracy gave Canada a dismal report card when it comes to the public’s ability to access information from public institutions. The human rights organization ranked Canada 55th out of 93 countries that have such laws in place.
Canada’s slide from the top happened slowly, says Legault, who is now on a crusade to start climbing that ladder once again.
Legault won’t be the first federal commissioner to recommend amendments aimed at capturing members of parliament. Her predecessor, Robert Marleau, asked this of the government in 2009. At the time, Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson identified some “challenges,” including the concept of parliamentary privilege, and said further study would be needed.
Yes, there are challenges, Legault says, but they are manageable.
“There is always a concern about constituency work and political (party) information, and with personal information and parliamentary privilege information, but that does not mean it can’t be covered with exemptions,” she said.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Robyn Doolittle
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