Eight years ago, in an eloquent plea for open government, then Conservative party Leader Stephen Harper said: “Information is the lifeblood of a democracy. Without adequate access to key information about government policies and programs, citizens and parliamentarians cannot make informed decisions, and incompetent or corrupt governance, can be hidden under a cloak of secrecy.”
Those noble words were published in the Montreal Gazette, but since becoming prime minister, he has donned that cloak of secrecy. The Harper Conservative government has consistently shown a disregard for openness that belies that promise of transparency — and the latest examples are delays in the release of cabinet papers and the secrecy surrounding the Trans-Pacific trade talks.
According to Postmedia News, the Privy Council Office has stopped the annual release of federal cabinet records after the traditional 30-year holding period, resulting in a seven-year backlog. The release of the declassified documents, is a tradition that goes back decades, but two years after Harper was elected, the annual releases stopped. The documents are important for historians, researchers and ordinary citizens. They shed light on historical events such as the 1970 October Crisis and the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games boycott, allowing people to get significant insight into government thinking at the time. The Privy Council says it remains “committed” to the release and will continue to do so as “as resources permit.” But few are buying that excuse. The truth is closer to the NDP view that “this speaks to the larger issue of secrecy with the Conservative government.”
The story is the same with trade talks. Canadian parliamentarians are incensed that, while U.S. lawmakers have been briefed and have seen drafts of what their government is negotiating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, they have not even been told what Canada’s negotiating position is. The role of MPs, who are the people’s representatives, is to scrutinize government activity, and as Harper once said so eloquently, they cannot perform their duties without proper information on what the government is up to. There really is no good reason that U.S. politicians should be briefed on what is going on in the negotiations while their Canadian counterparts are kept in the dark.
“Mr. Harper’s obsession with secrecy is unhelpful, undemocratic, and as the U.S. practice demonstrates, unnecessary.” says opposition trade critic Don Davies.
Trade Minister Ed Fast has rejected criticism that the government is too secretive on the trade talks, saying the “key stakeholders” have been kept in the loop.
Everyone understands that trade negotiations are very sensitive undertakings, and the government has a duty to maintain confidentiality. No one quarrels with that. But surely, if the U.S. Trade Representative can, the federal government can also find a way to keep our representatives informed without endangering confidentiality.
Successive prime ministers have treated Parliament as something of a nuisance to be tolerated, but Harper has taken it to a new level. Whether it is Afghan detainees, the Parliamentary Budget Office, the federal budget, federal access to information law or a range of other issues, the Conservative government appears to treat releasing information to the public an affront. Secrecy, not transparency, is often their default position. It is a culture that permeates the federal bureaucracy, and it is eating away at our democracy. Even on something as mundane as responding to media inquiries on issues of the day, it is the rare reporter who gets same-day answers to questions posed to federal departments. Every bit of information is micro-managed. It is sad this has become the legacy of a government that came to power on the wings of transparency.
Do Canadians care about any of this? Perhaps not, but they should.
Open government doesn’t in itself create jobs or fill empty stomachs. It is an abstract concept that speaks to our ideals and aspirations for good governance, but it is one that Canadians should care about. A government that doesn’t listen and thinks it can do what it wants, unencumbered by the institutions that underline our democracy, is an elected dictatorship.
For a prime minister as confident and sure-footed as Harper, supported, as he is, by a pliant majority caucus, his government’s secrecy is baffling.
Original Article
Source: ottawacitizen.com
Author: Ottawa Citizen Editorial
Those noble words were published in the Montreal Gazette, but since becoming prime minister, he has donned that cloak of secrecy. The Harper Conservative government has consistently shown a disregard for openness that belies that promise of transparency — and the latest examples are delays in the release of cabinet papers and the secrecy surrounding the Trans-Pacific trade talks.
According to Postmedia News, the Privy Council Office has stopped the annual release of federal cabinet records after the traditional 30-year holding period, resulting in a seven-year backlog. The release of the declassified documents, is a tradition that goes back decades, but two years after Harper was elected, the annual releases stopped. The documents are important for historians, researchers and ordinary citizens. They shed light on historical events such as the 1970 October Crisis and the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games boycott, allowing people to get significant insight into government thinking at the time. The Privy Council says it remains “committed” to the release and will continue to do so as “as resources permit.” But few are buying that excuse. The truth is closer to the NDP view that “this speaks to the larger issue of secrecy with the Conservative government.”
The story is the same with trade talks. Canadian parliamentarians are incensed that, while U.S. lawmakers have been briefed and have seen drafts of what their government is negotiating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, they have not even been told what Canada’s negotiating position is. The role of MPs, who are the people’s representatives, is to scrutinize government activity, and as Harper once said so eloquently, they cannot perform their duties without proper information on what the government is up to. There really is no good reason that U.S. politicians should be briefed on what is going on in the negotiations while their Canadian counterparts are kept in the dark.
“Mr. Harper’s obsession with secrecy is unhelpful, undemocratic, and as the U.S. practice demonstrates, unnecessary.” says opposition trade critic Don Davies.
Trade Minister Ed Fast has rejected criticism that the government is too secretive on the trade talks, saying the “key stakeholders” have been kept in the loop.
Everyone understands that trade negotiations are very sensitive undertakings, and the government has a duty to maintain confidentiality. No one quarrels with that. But surely, if the U.S. Trade Representative can, the federal government can also find a way to keep our representatives informed without endangering confidentiality.
Successive prime ministers have treated Parliament as something of a nuisance to be tolerated, but Harper has taken it to a new level. Whether it is Afghan detainees, the Parliamentary Budget Office, the federal budget, federal access to information law or a range of other issues, the Conservative government appears to treat releasing information to the public an affront. Secrecy, not transparency, is often their default position. It is a culture that permeates the federal bureaucracy, and it is eating away at our democracy. Even on something as mundane as responding to media inquiries on issues of the day, it is the rare reporter who gets same-day answers to questions posed to federal departments. Every bit of information is micro-managed. It is sad this has become the legacy of a government that came to power on the wings of transparency.
Do Canadians care about any of this? Perhaps not, but they should.
Open government doesn’t in itself create jobs or fill empty stomachs. It is an abstract concept that speaks to our ideals and aspirations for good governance, but it is one that Canadians should care about. A government that doesn’t listen and thinks it can do what it wants, unencumbered by the institutions that underline our democracy, is an elected dictatorship.
For a prime minister as confident and sure-footed as Harper, supported, as he is, by a pliant majority caucus, his government’s secrecy is baffling.
Original Article
Source: ottawacitizen.com
Author: Ottawa Citizen Editorial
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