About 60 per cent of that spending, to handle what are called “access to information” requests, have occurred during the last four years of Conservative rule. The spending is above and beyond that allocated to full-time staff who handle such requests in each department.
The spending figures are contained in an order paper question from NDP MP Charlie Angus, although the data are not complete: Some agencies and Crown corporations, such as the CBC and the Public Service Commission, didn’t provide numbers in the response, instead directing recipients to the annual reports each files on access to information spending.
Under the access to information regime, Canadians can request federal government records and information – which their taxes pay for – although the law allows some information to be withheld, such as data that could compromise national security or breach someone’s privacy.
“This is extremely sensitive information,” Angus said. “You need specialists in your department to handle this. You don’t … put an ad in the paper. We don’t know who is doing the review.”
According to the data in the documents, Health Canada and Public Works and Government Services Canada were the two top spenders since 2006, combining to spend just over $18.5 million on outside consultants to handle information requests. Consultants charge between $20 and $225 per hour to review public requests for records and determine what content can be released.
“We take the issue of openness and transparency at Health Canada very seriously,” said Health Minister Rona Ambrose.
“We want to make sure that any access to information request that comes in is addressed quickly.”
The cost for outside help has risen every year since 2006, according to the data, with spikes for some departments beginning in fiscal year 2009-2010. The Canada Revenue Agency explained its increased cost per consultant as a result of “greater market demand for skilled ATIP consultants and increased costs from the staffing agencies that supply them.”
In the House of Commons, the government said it was only paying people when there was work to be done.
“Professional services are needed to acquire special expertise and to meet unexpected fluctuations in workload,” said Dan Albas, the parliamentary secretary to Treasury Board President Tony Clement. “In some cases, the government contracts private sector companies to deliver or improve services without maintaining an expensive government bureaucracy.”
Angus argued that the government should put resources into hiring full-time staff in departments to handle requests, rather than go to outside firms.
“If you want to look at bad fiscal management, this is it,” Angus said.
“Anybody who can run a Tim Hortons could tell you to hire the staff. It will cost you a lot less.”
The cost of the access to information regime was raised with MPs late last year when Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault appeared before a Commons committee to appeal for a boost in her budget. While her office budget has been cut by 11 per cent, there has been a 30-per-cent increase in the number of complaints her office handles, adding to a backlog in her caseload for handling public complaints about how the government releases information.
During the December meeting, Legault asked MPs to consider scrapping the $5 fee charged for every access to information request. When Conservative MPs instead raised the possibility of raising the price for a request, Legault said such an increase would dissuade Canadians from seeking government records and would be at odds with the government’s open data initiative.
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Information costs, by the numbers
$5: Cost for any member of the public to file an access to information request.
$0: Cost to file a complaint with the information commissioner’s office.
$225: Maximum cost, per hour, consultants charge departments to handle access to information.
1,869: Access to information requests at the Canada Revenue Agency in fiscal year 2004-05.
3,387: Access to information requests at the Canada Revenue Agency in fiscal year 2013-14.
Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author: JORDAN PRESS
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