Tag: open government

Harper government "most transparent" in history. NOT!

“Our Government is the most transparent government in Canadian history. There has never been a time when Canadians have had as much access to government information.”

– Treasury Board President Tony Clement, Dec. 19, 2012

 While I have personally encouraged Minister Clement about Open Government/Open Data initiatives (and found him to be personally receptive to doing what he can to implement those initiatives), it is demonstrably false for him that he is part of the most transparent government in Canada history.  Continue reading Harper government "most transparent" in history. NOT!

Waiting for years: Canada's oh-so-broken access to information system

Canada’s Access to Information (ATI) system was broke long before Stephen Harper became prime minister in 2006 but the Conservatives, like the Liberals before them, have failed to fix the system that gives Canadians the right of access to records the government holds, creates, and collects on all our behalf. [For more on our broken ATI system, see “30 Years of ATI: And It’s Getting Worse”]

Indeed, despite promising to fix the ATI system in its 2006 campaign, the Conservatives have made it worse. Great example? Over at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, John Baird as much thumbed his nose at the Information Commissioner of Canada — an officer of Parliament, no less — when she told him earlier this year, in response to a complaint that I had made, that the steps his bureaucrats were taking to prevent the release of documents was flat out wrong, likely against the law, and that he ought to tell his bureaucrats to change their ways. [See: “Foreign Affairs Minister Ignores Information Commissioner’s Recommendations”]

Continue reading Waiting for years: Canada's oh-so-broken access to information system