from ChaoticFate.com by qew
http://www3.telus.net/index100/secrecy
Compiled by Stanley Tromp, March 2010
Many writers from across the political spectrum say that the current Conservative
Prime Minister is applying a steadily tightening chokehold on information, “the
oxygen of democracy.” The policy reversal on Access to Information Act reform is
only one sign of this trend, whereby it appears that, more than the Prime Minister
realized or would have wished, the style has often become the substance,
detracting from and colouring the message.
As Ian Brown wrote in the Globe and Mail, “Mr. Harper is running the most
hands-on, centrally controlled federal government in living memory, a government
so Harper-centric and so micro-managed by the Prime Minister's Office it feels
literally patriarchal.”
1
(See the troubling six part Toronto Star series Secret
Capital, May 2008 www.thestar.com/News/ Canada/ article/429906 )
Examples appear throughout the report Fallen Behind: Canada’s Access to
Information Act in the World Context, and yet many others could be noted:
1) In the election campaign of 2006, Mr. Harper made eight pledges for ATI Act
reform, including granting the Commissioner the power to order records released,
adding a harms test and a general public interest override for all exemptions,
changing the cabinet records exclusion into an exemption, and obliging public
officials to create records of their actions. If passed, these changes would have
mainly raised Canada’s antiquated ATI Act up to the best global FOI legal
standards. Yet none of these measures were passed (except a portion of one, on
entity coverage), and they have been deferred indefinitely for further study.
2) Prime Minister Harper barred reporters from the lobby outside the House of
Commons chamber where they would formerly question ministers, and his office
stopped advertising the time and location of cabinet meetings. The PM sharply
curtailed the number of prime ministerial press conferences, and even when these
occurred, his office demanded reporters submit their names for approval on a list,
before they would be permitted to ask the PM a question. He tries to limit the
numbers and kinds of questions reporters ask, and has adopted the Bush White
House strategy of favouring friendly questioners. There was also an uproar over a
new control-oriented media centre in Ottawa
1
In Harper's regime, Big Daddy knows best, by Ian Brown. Globe and Mail. May 13, 2006 2
3) On Parliament Hill, access to Mr. Harper and his cabinet has been so
restricted that it has become a source of levity among reporters. The Hill Times
carried a story on how the PM goes to great lengths to avoid reporters by taking
the freight elevator and exiting out the back door.
2
4) Instead of decentralizing power as promised, Mr. Harper has funnelled more
and more control straight into the Prime Minister's Office. The PMO now preapproves everything Tory ministers and MPs do in their political lives. They have
been ordered to speak less to the media, and banned from discussing the
government's plans. The PMO vets even MPs' letters to small-town newspapers.
3
Ministers who break these rules are sternly rebuked by the Prime Minister, in
public.
5) The Privy Council Office has such strict control over the Tory government's
messaging that it pre-approves and revises comments attributed to federal
ministers, does “severe” edits on departmental press releases and even vets words
that are to come out of the mouths of university officials, according to documents
obtained by Canwest News Service through an ATIA request.
4
Laurence Martin
wrote that the Harper government prevents the publishing of departmental studies,
especially ones that don't reflect well on its law-and-order philosophy.
5
6) In April 2006, to avoid bad press, Mr. Harper banned the media from filming
the return of the bodies of four Canadian soldiers who died in Afghanistan, despite
the fact the military and several of the families had wished for cameras to be
present. The CBC had discovered through an ATIA request that the PMO had
overruled their wishes. At the funeral of one captain, her father gave a stirring
eulogy saying the young woman died to protect Canada's freedoms, not to restrict
them.
6
2
Government keeps public in the dark, critics warn; Canadians denied information to which they
are entitled, by Richard Brennan. Toronto Star, April 7, 2008
3
'Message discipline' often springs leaks, experts caution PM, by Campbell Clark and Bill Curry.
Globe and Mail, March 18, 2006
4
Ministers' 'quotes' edited by non-elected Privy Council: Documents reveal Harper government's
messaging strictly controlled, including department press releases, by Margaret Munro. The
Vancouver Sun, Sept. 15, 2008
5
Democracy Canadian-style: How do you like it so far? The Globe and Mail. Dec. 17, 2009
6
Military officials resisted casket policy, by Alexander Panetta. The Globe and Mail, July 3, 2006 3
7) Early in 2008, a government-appointed panel on the future of the military
mission in Afghanistan, headed by John Manley, bluntly criticized the Prime
Minister for allowing an "information deficit" to develop. They urged the
government to immediately address the problem by, among other things,
expanding the circle of public servants and ambassadors who can talk about the
mission and by providing “franker and more frequent reporting on events in
Afghanistan” to Canadians.
The Information Commissioner said the Manley panel's criticism on the Afghan
file could be applied elsewhere: “They are saying Afghanistan, but you could
extrapolate that to foreign affairs, to the RCMP, to the Mahar Arar affair ... all the
way down the line.” The criticism by the panel - which included Derek Burney, a
former chief of staff to Tory Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and Paul Tellier, a
former clerk of the Privy Council - was seen as significant because it gives thirdparty validation to complaints by the media, opposition MPs and others about Mr.
Harper's tight lid on information.
7
8) In secret, then Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor signed a new NORAD
continental defence agreement with the Americans – renewing it for an indefinite
term and expanding to include naval operations - and parliament was allowed to
debate it only after the fact. News of the deal came from Washington, and
Canadian public servants were not allowed to talk about it. (Similarly, Trade
Minister David Emerson told Canadians there was no deal with the Americans on
softwood lumber hours after it had actually been finalized.)
9) In 2008, Mr. Harper's aides refused to confirm whether the Prime Minister
talked with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. But Mexican officials released a
page-long news release not only confirming the two leaders spoke but providing
highlights of the topics they discussed.
8
The PMO also has sometimes not
informed the public about visits by foreign statesmen, such as Haiti’s president.
10) The government rejected an ATIA request for the mysterious Middle East
report written by Liberal-turned-Conservative MP Wajid Khan. It did so on the
basis that records in the PMO, and other ministers' offices, are not covered by the
access law.
11) In 2008, Ottawa moved to centralize control over the drafting of Canadian
embassies' reports on the human-rights records of foreign countries. Foreign
Affairs officials have sent new guidelines to embassies that order them to make a
7
Government Openness Scrutinized; Complaints Double; Lack of access to information cited by
Norma Greenaway. National Post. Feb. 4, 2008
8
Brennan. op.cit4
"sharp, clear distinction" between sections of the report to be made public and
those that will be classified. Meanwhile the United States and many other
countries issue public human rights reports with relatively unvarnished
assessments.
9
12) The Conservative government has exempted contracts with Parliament and
Canada's spy agency CSIS from oversight by a new Ombudsman's post that was
central to the 2006 Conservative election campaign. The government slipped the
exemptions in May 2008 in regulations that empower the contract procurement
Ombudsman under the Accountability Act. Opposition MPs were taken by
surprise at the exemptions.
10
13) Even civil servants involved in policy development have complained about
the government's zeal for keeping things close to the vest, according to a study by
the Ottawa-based Public Policy Forum. “The problem in Ottawa ... is that
government has not been effective or forthcoming in communicating their agenda
to officials," the forum said in a report of September 2007. “Efforts to work
around the bureaucracy and to guard information (have) increased, while there
seems to be less willingness to accept public service advice,” the report said.
11
14) In the new Canada, even fiction has not escaped the censor’s eye: in April
2006, an Environment Canada scientist published Hotter Than Hell, a science
fiction novel about global warming set 50 years in the future. He was instantly
prohibited from promoting the book because Mr. Harper's government was quietly
cutting its Kyoto Accord budget by up to 80 per cent that week. “I obviously not
only hope, but expect, that all elements of the bureaucracy will be working with us
to achieve our objectives,” the prime minister explained.
12
15) In April 2008 there was a charge from Auditor-General Sheila Fraser that the
Tories were even trying to silence the officers of Parliament, herself included, who
are supposed to be independent watchdogs. She had learned about a draft proposal
for a new communications strategy - or, as precision might have it, set of gag laws.
9
Critics blast Ottawa plan to control rights reports, by Campbell Clark. The Globe and Mail.
Aug 13, 2008
10
Contracts with CSIS, Parliament exempt from Ombudsman's eye, by Tim Naumetz. Globe and
Mail, May 20, 2008
11
Secret Capital: Parliament Frozen Out. Parliament losing power, author says. By Bruce
Campion and Joanna Smith, Toronto Star, May 29, 2008
12
In Harper's regime, Big Daddy knows best, by Ian Brown. The Globe and Mail, May 13, 2006 5
The Privy Council Office, an arm of the Prime Minister's Office, would apparently
be vetting her releases to the media.
13
16) Mr. Harper has steadfastly refused to disclose the campaign donors for his
2002 Alliance Party leadership run. (However to its credit the Conservative Party
of Canada did release the donor figures for its 2004 leadership selection process.)
His party initially failed to report more than $530,000 in donations for its 2005
convention.
14
17) The lack of transparency has drawn criticism from opposing figures including
Senator Pat Carney, who held several cabinet posts under Tory Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney. In an interview with the CBC upon her retirement from the
senate, she told of calling Mr. Harper to express her concern about his control of
communications over the caucus and cabinet.
15
18) In February 2010, interim Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault
launched a special investigation of how an over-zealous political aide to a minister
got bureaucrats to "unrelease" a document already on its way to Canadian Press
via the ATI process. The report, which revealed inefficiencies in the Public Works
department's real-estate operations, was politically embarrassing. (Months later an
edited version was released.)
19) In a case now in Federal Court, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is
trying to keep secret the names of those who helped forerunner spy agencies keep
an eye on T.C. Douglas, the left-wing Saskatchewan premier (1944-61) now
revered as the father of medicare. CSIS claims that disclosing investigative
methods within the 1,142-page file on Douglas – with some of the records 75
years old - might cause harm to current national security. If that claim is upheld,
Canada will be revealed to be far behind the nations of the former Communist bloc
Eastern Europe, where names of those who informed on their neighbours to the
secret police are now public.
16
20) The federal government refused to release briefing books prepared for the
minister tasked with making the government more accountable. Manitoba MP
13
Info control spinning out of control, by Lawrence Martin. The Globe and Mail, May 5, 2008
14
So much for the new governing morality, by Lawrence Martin. Globe and Mail, May 21, 2007
15
Proudly raise the flag for freedom of information. Editorial. Winnipeg Free Press, April 20,
2008
16
Canadian democracy is oxygen-starved, the Montreal Gazette, 14 February, 2010 6
Steven Fletcher was sworn in as the minister of state for democratic reform in
October 2008. The Winnipeg Free Press made a request for the briefing books
prepared to help Fletcher learn his new portfolio. After a six-month delay, the
newspaper was told its request would not be honoured, because it contained advice
to cabinet. Briefing books are often released through access requests, albeit with
small portions withheld, and this marks the first known occasion of one being
denied completely.
17
21) The Supreme Court of Canada will consider a 10-year-old legal dispute over
whether the public should have access to the private agenda books of the prime
minister. In December 2009, the court granted leave to appeal to the federal
information commissioner, who is seeking to release the daytimers of former
Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien in response to an Access to Information Act
applicant. The outcome could determine how much of the prime minister's life
should be shielded from public view. The Conservative government is continuing
this PMO secrecy tradition of the Liberals.
The Federal Court had ruled in 2008 that the disputed 2,000 pages of records are
under the control of the Prime Minister's Office, and therefore exempt from the
ATIA. The government argues that documents held in ministerial offices do not
fall under the same public scrutiny as those kept in government departments.
18
22) The Harper government has not lived up to its campaign promise to be
transparent when it comes to access to information legislation, says the man who
led the inquiry into the Liberal sponsorship scandal. The result is ATIA
applications that are delayed for up to two years, said retired justice of the
Superior Court of Quebec John Gomery, the keynote speaker at the national
convention of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada being held in
Fredericton. "The current government ran for election in 2006 on a platform
promising integrity, accountability, and transparency," he said. "On the
transparency issue its promises have simply not been fulfilled. I do think the
record of the current government is very bad."
19
23) In June 2009, Information Commissioner Robert Marleau abruptly resigned
for "entirely personal and private" reasons, just over two years into a seven-year
term, raising doubts about the pace and direction of reforms to Canada's access to
17
Accountability minister’s briefing books off limits, The Ottawa Citizen, 13 February, 2010
18
Top court to rule on PM’s private agenda books, Calgary Herald, 18 December, 2009
19
Harper's transparency promise unfulfilled, former judge says, Fredericton Daily Gleaner, 27
August, 2009 7
information laws that he was spearheading. He was disappointed that his efforts to
open up Ottawa found no advocates in the Conservative government. There is "no
one minister, no one parliamentary secretary on the government side that is taking
this on," he said. "It takes political guts. It takes political vision."
20
24) In a dramatic and unprecedented showdown in Ottawa, Privy Council
officials ended months of stonewalling on June 26, 2009, and handed over
documents requested by the federal information commissioner. The disclosure of
files came only after Robert Marleau threatened to have his staff enter the PCO
and seize the paperwork themselves.
At the heart of the dispute was Mr. Marleau's investigation into public complaints
that the Privy Council office was frustrating several ATIA requests. (The PCO
supports the Prime Minister's Office and cabinet.) In particular, he was looking at
150 cases that involve "administrative" issues - complaints that could include the
PCO's demand for photocopying costs and time extensions. To probe the
complaints, his staff needed the files in question. But the Privy Council had
rebuffed the commission's requests for the documents, some dating back many
months.
21
25) In a scathing 156-page special report of February 2009, the Information
Commissioner said "serious flaws" in the way Ottawa delays ATIA requests has
plunged the system into a "crisis" situation. "The poor performance shown by
institutions is symptomatic of a major information management crisis throughout
government," he said. "Access to information has become hostage to this crisis
and is about to become its victim."
Robert Marleau was particularly critical of the Prime Minister's directives that
have created a "stranglehold in the centre on communications" and made Ottawa's
"tendency to withhold information" even worse than it was before. He added there
are currently "no consequences" for those who ignore their obligations under the
access-to-information law because it "has no teeth."
22
26) During Right to Know Week in September 2008, a 393 page report sponsored
by several Canadian newspaper associations was released: Fallen Behind:
20
Ottawa chided for lacking 'guts'; Departing information czar bemoans lack of openness,
Toronto Star, 29 June, 2009
21
PCO blinks, gives documents to information watchdog, Toronto Star, 27 June, 2009
22
A law in name only, The Brandon Sun, 28 February, 2009 8
Canada’s Access to Information Act in the World Context.
http://www3.telus.net/index100/foi
The report confirmed what most commentators had long stated - that Canada’s
1982 ATIA is woefully outdated when compared to the FOI statutes of most other
nations. (This point was vigorously denied by the Justice Minister in 2009.) The
ATIA also fails to conform to most key FOI recommendations from at least ten
global political organizations, such as the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Council
of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and
the United Nations Development Agency (UNDP).
27) In September 2008, Canada’s Information Commissioner upheld a Canadian
Newspaper Association complaint that government practices of tagging requests
for information as “sensitive” create “unfair and unjustifiable delays in the
processing of those requests,” and has urged government departments to stop
holding up information.
23
The finding marks the conclusion of an unprecedented three-year investigation
into 21 government departments triggered by a complaint from the Canadian
Newspaper Association in September, 2005, alleging that “secret rules and
procedures (...) contravene the (Access to Information) Act, (and) result, more
importantly, in unfair and unjustifiable delays in the processing of media requests
for government information to which the public has a right in our democracy.”
28) In May 2008 the Canadian Association of Journalists awarded Prime Minister
Harper its “Code of Silence Award” for 2007. “Harper's white-knuckled death grip
on public information makes this the easiest decision the cabal of judges has ever
rendered,” said CAJ President Mary Agnes Welch. “He's gone beyond merely
gagging cabinet ministers and professional civil servants, stalling access to
information requests and blackballing reporters who ask tough questions. He has
built a pervasive government apparatus whose sole purpose is to strangle the flow
of public information.”
24
29) The Globe and Mail asked why federal agencies were taking so long to
release information under the ATI Act. The paper filed requests with about a
dozen federal agencies seeking an explanation. The answer took two-and-a-half
23
Government Unfairly Slows Access to Information Commissioner Concludes. http://www.cnaacj.ca/en/news/news-releases/government-unfairly-slows-access-information-commissionerconcludes
24
’Psst... Harper Wins CAJ secrecy award. CAJ, May 25, 2008. http://www.eagle.ca/caj/ 9
years to come. E-mails between Treasury and the Privy Council seem to confirm
what information officers in several departments had confided to The Globe -
bottlenecks exist, the result of orders that the Privy Council review information
requests.
25
30) Laurence Martin of the Globe and Mail reported that the Conservatives might
be preventing record access by discouraging record creation. “The bureaucrat was
at the Department of National Defence, where the Afghan detainee affair has
brought controversy, some of it prompted by journalistic prying through access
laws. “I get a call from the Privy Council Office,” he said. “They're setting up a
conference call. The first thing that's said is ‘No note-taking, no recordings,
nothing. We don't want to see anything in writing on this.' … That's the way they
develop policies now and, for my money, it's scary.” There is conflicting
information on how widespread the practice has become.
26
31) Geoffrey Stevens wrote in October 2009 that Harper “presides over what is
arguably the most closed, most secretive federal administration in the last 50
years.” As one example, he wrote, the public safety minister, Peter Van Loan,
wanted Parliament to accept a package of anti-crime measures that, taken together,
would keep more convicts in federal institutions for longer periods of time. Asked
about the impact of the measures on Canada's prison population, Van Loan refused
to disclose the government's estimates, saying the numbers are a cabinet
confidence.
27
32) The Harper Conservatives are continuing the long tradition of keeping secret
the expenses details of members of parliament, which amounted to about $128
million in the 2008-09 fiscal year. The Board of Internal Economy, a secretive and
powerful committee of eight MPs - four each from the government and the
opposition - keeps watch over their colleagues' bills. In March 2009, they agreed
to cover the legal expenses for six lawsuits brought against MPs for defamation,
libel and employment disputes. The board won't say who's being sued, what
prompted the lawsuit or how much the legal defences are costing taxpayers.
28
25
Pattern of delay: Ottawa's information denial. The Globe and Mail, Feb. 3, 2010
26
Is this the answer to access requests? Stop keeping records? The Globe and Mail, Feb. 25,
2010
27
Harper government is marked by hypocrisy. The Guelph Mercury, Oct. 19, 2009
28
Our MPs' spending secrets; Canada's 308 members of Parliament claim almost $128 million a
year in personal and office expenses spending that's risen 42% since 2000. Toronto Star, June 20,
200910
By contrast, the House of Representatives in Washington now plans to post
members' expenses online each quarter, and similar pre-emptive plans are
developing in New Zealand. In Britain, misspending by MPs revealed in 2009
cause a major scandal, with twenty cabinet ministers and backbenchers planning to
resign or retire as a result; Scotland Yard launched a criminal investigation into
some claims.
33) Canada's Foreign Affairs Department has systematically prevented the release
of hundreds of thousands of pages of records on everything from the mission in
Afghanistan to the NATO briefing materials Maxime Bernier left at his girlfriend's
home, Canwest News Service has learned. Two legal experts say the Department
of Foreign Affairs and International Trade violated Canada's Access to Information
law when it decided to systematically charge "preparation fees" before responding
to ATI requests. The Commissioner’s office is investigating complaints over the
policy.
An official with the department, however, said it is applying fees within the
bounds set by the federal Access to Information Act. Although other departments
charge "preparation fees," usually for paper-based records, DFAIT is the only
major federal government department insisting "preparation fees" be paid for
routine computerized records before it will release censored versions of those
records. Someone making a request could pay hundreds of dollars to "prepare" the
records only to receive documents that have been completely blacked out.
29
34) Some of Canada's large commercial airlines required government inspectors
to sign confidentiality agreements to comb over company documents to assess a
controversial new oversight system, Canwest News Service learned. Inspectors
will be conducting in-depth assessments of the safety management systems at
Canada's large airlines. The new safety system - a first in civil aviation - puts more
onus on airlines in managing safety risks in their operations, and is now fully
phased in at Canada's large commercial carriers.
The Transport department declined to name the airlines. The media and labour
unions had complained about proposed amendments to the aeronautics and FOI
laws that would have resulted in a sweeping ban on the release of company reports
of air safety problems. (The legislation died when the 2009 federal election was
called.)
30
29
Foreign affairs violating disclosure laws, say experts. Calgary Herald, Feb. 17, 2009
30
Air safety risks may be withheld; Confidentiality agreements could limit information. Nanaimo
Daily News, Feb. 25, 200911
35) Commissioner Paul Kennedy issued a damning report on the RCMP's conduct
surrounding the tragic Taser death of Polish traveller Robert Dziekanski at
Vancouver airport. Rather than ordering the RCMP to immediately fix the
problems cited by Kennedy, the government allowed the Mounties to try to bury
the report.
As well, the military police complaints commission was given $5 million by the
Harper government to investigate allegations of torture of Afghan detainees. So far,
the commission is spending all the money fighting attempts by the Harper
government to shut down the commission's probe.
31
36) In January 2009, three groups - the Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA),
Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) and BC Freedom of Information and
Privacy Association (FIPA) urged Prime Minister Harper to follow President
Barack Obama’s lead on transparency. On his first day in office, President Obama
issued a directive to all agencies to adopt a presumption in favor of openness for
FOI requestors.
“With billions of taxpayer dollars about to be spent on fiscal stimulus,
transparency on how those dollars are spent is absolutely vital,” said the CNA
release. “Without a viable access to information regime, taxpayers are left in the
dark. Opportunities for waste and mismanagement abound when media and the
public can’t see what the government is doing.” Information Commissioner
Marleau noted that information on the $64-billion stimulus spending plan in
Canada may be of dubious value if it takes the government years to release it.
32
37) In May 2008, the Harper government closed down a database that was an
electronic list of every ATIA request filed over many years to all federal agencies,
claiming it was too costly and little used; The registry, created in 1989 was known
as CAIRS, for Co-ordination of Access to Information Requests System, and it
had allowed ordinary citizens to identify millions of pages of once secret
documents that had become public, and request them.
CAIRS was originally designed as an internal government tool to manage the flow
of often embarrassing information. Particularly sensitive requests from news
media or opposition politicians would often be red-flagged for special handling
that frequently delayed release. But requesters soon began to mine the database to
31
Suddenly, our PM is slapstick Steve. Ottawa Sun, Dec. 13, 2009
32
Without transparency, billions in stimulus could be wasted. Canada NewsWire, Jan. 23, 2009 12
discover obscure documents, fine-tune the phrasing on new requests, and even to
do statistical studies.
38) With rare unanimity, a joint committee of MPs and senators decided in June
2009 to put the outspoken new Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), Kevin Page,
in a political straitjacket. Page made waves by exposing holes in the government's
deficit estimates and casting doubt on Ottawa's financial tally for the war in
Afghanistan.
MPs and senators are peeved that Page publicizes his findings on the web for all to
see, rather than deferring to parliamentary committees that want the right to hold
information back from the public eye. Page was then threatened by the
parliamentarians that his office would be starved of promised funds unless he
agrees to their confidentiality terms.
33
39) A dramatic reduction in Canadian media coverage of climate change science
issues is the result of the Harper government introducing new rules in 2007 to
control interviews by Environment Canada scientists with journalists, says a newly
released federal document. "Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the
number of requests, particularly from high-profile media, who often have sameday deadlines," said the Environment Canada document.
34
"Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been
reduced by over 80%." The analysis reviewed the impact of a new federal
communications policy at Environment Canada, which required senior federal
scientists to seek permission from the government before giving interviews. In
many cases, the policy also required them to get approval from supervisors of
written responses to the questions submitted by journalists before any interview.
40) A series of government e-mails shows an arms-length investigatory body was
told that the Prime Minister's Office wanted it to "hold off" on releasing a safety
report into the high-seas death of Laura Gainey. The e-mails - which the
Opposition argues show inappropriate interference in the independent agency -
surround the release of the report by the Transportation Safety Board into Gainey's
death after she was swept overboard from a tall ship in December 2006.
On Sept. 12, 2009, four days after the Prime Minister called the Oct. 14 election, a
ministerial aide wrote, "My Chief of Staff has just been told by PMO to hold off
on the release of the report until after the election.” Lawyer Michel Drapeau, an
33
Parliamentary cover-up. Toronto Star. June 20, 2009
34
Scientists 'muzzled' by Tories' media policy. By Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service,
March 15, 201013
Ottawa-based legal expert on public access to government information, said the
prime minister's officials shouldn't give orders to an investigatory body.
35
41) Health Canada is telling contractors who handle the release of departmental
documents that they must consult with Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq's office to
ensure that "sensitive records are treated appropriately." In a contract offer, Health
Canada says it intends to hire a consultant to help catch up on its severe backlog of
ATI Act requests. Among the qualifications for the job, the notice says, is the need
to check with top government officials before releasing information to the public
36
42) British scientist Trevor Ogden who oversaw a report on the dangers of the
chrysotile variety of asbestos says he believes Ottawa tried to suppress his work to
protect the Quebec industry that mines the cancer-causing mineral. He headed an
expert panel that Health Canada assembled in late 2007 to study the cancer risk of
chrysotile. The report has been ready since March 2008, but became available only
since April 2009 after ATIA requests from the media.
Health Canada didn’t publish the report on its website, the usual practice for
scientific studies that it funds, but said anyone who asks for a copy will be given
one. Canada and other developed countries use little asbestos, and many nations
ban it because of the health and liability risk. Most of Quebec's production is
exported to the developing world for use as an inexpensive additive to strengthen
cement building products. Ottawa has spent nearly $20-million since 1984
promoting the mineral abroad.
37
43) Prime Minister Harper has gagged the person he appointed to investigate last
summer's killer listeriosis outbreak, forbidding her to speak to the media or the
public, while denying her important tools she needs to get to the bottom of the
problem, say critics. An audit of Canada's meat-inspection system conducted by
the United States Department, conducted only weeks before the listeriosis
outbreak, found that a Maple Leaf Foods meat-processing facility in Laval, Que.,
was not ensuring proper cleaning and sanitation at the plant.
35
Emails show safety board was told to 'hold' report. By Michael Tutton. Telegraph-Journal,
Saint John, N.B., April 4, 2009
36
Health Canada wants access requests vetted by minister; researchers vexed; Critics decry
politicization of information. By Glen McGregor. The Ottawa Citizen, March 6, 2009
37
From Motive questioned in failure to disclose asbestos study. By Martin Mittelstaedt. The
Globe and Mail, April 22, 2009 14
“We owe our friends at the USDA a debt of gratitude. They publish the only
detailed information about safety and sanitation practices at Canadian meat plants
that's available to Canadian consumers,” wrote Bob Kingston is a CFIA inspection
supervisor on leave to act as national president of the Agriculture Union, PSAC.
38
44) As international concern about growing crops for fuel mounted over 2007, the
Harper government tightly managed the message on Canada's controversial $2-
billion biofuel program. Rather than having federal program managers and
researchers speak for themselves, government communication staff have been
compiling answers to media queries and forwarding them to ministers' offices and
the Privy Council Office (PCO) for approval, according to documents released to
Canwest News Service under the ATI Act.
"We need to have both the technical response, but with the [government]
messaging," one senior bureaucrat wrote to in an e-mail to communications staff
regarding one media query on biofuels.
39
45) The federal government was contributing part of the money for an
International Polar Year Arctic research project, announced in July 2007. Through
an ATIA request, Canwest News discovered that, for this project, the Privy Council
Office (PCO) took drafts of remarks prepared by federal government agencies,
then "massaged" them furiously, cutting out information on the research project
(which covers important areas like the changing ocean ecosystem and shrinking
ice cover) and the scientists doing the work.
Instead, the PCO inserted the names of the federal Conservative politicians
making the announcement. Even the remarks to be delivered by the university's
vice-president of research were vetted by government minions. For good measure,
the phrase "Canada's new government" was inserted - a full 18 months after the
government had taken office.
The PCO asked for new "quotes" to be concocted to bring the announcement in
line with what Harper had said earlier on the Arctic. On this event, an editorial in
the Regina Leader Post averred that, “Today, politicians are uncomfortably aware
of being monitored by backroom "spin doctors" working for a government that
either places little faith in senior ministers or is so insecure about its image as to
38
Like telltale crumbs, food safety is being swept under the rug; Only Canadian info available is
from the U.S., thanks to Harper gag order. By Bob Kingston, Edmonton Journal, Feb. 10, 2009
39
Tories keeping tight control of biofuel message, documents shows. By Margaret Munro.
National Post, Sept. 15, 200815
invent quotations and monitor everything said about it. . . . such an obsessive lust
for control of the political message is a sad sign of our times.”
40
46) In 2007 a secret Tory handbook on obstructing and manipulating Commons
committees was leaked to the press. The 200 page handbook, obtained by National
Post columnist Don Martin, reportedly advises chairs on how to promote the
government's agenda, select witnesses friendly to the Conservative party and
coach them to give favourable testimony. It also reportedly instructs them on how
to filibuster and otherwise disrupt committee proceedings and, if all else fails, how
to shut committees down entirely. Some of those stalling tactics have been on
display.
The previous Liberal regime also tried to control the conduct of committees, by
ordering its own backbenchers what to do and say there, said a veteran NDP MP,
but not to the extent of the Tories.
Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale said the manual demonstrates that the
government is in the grip of a prime minister who has "a kind of control fetish" in
which there can't be "one comma or one sentence or one word uttered without his
personal approval." William Johnson, a biographer of Stephen Harper, said that
"the government has subverted Canadian democracy."
41
========================
40
An obsession with total control. Editorial, Leader Post, Regina, Sask., Sept, 16, 2008
41
'Obstruction' handbook leaked. Toronto Star, May 18, 2007
http://www3.telus.net/index100/secrecy
Compiled by Stanley Tromp, March 2010
Many writers from across the political spectrum say that the current Conservative
Prime Minister is applying a steadily tightening chokehold on information, “the
oxygen of democracy.” The policy reversal on Access to Information Act reform is
only one sign of this trend, whereby it appears that, more than the Prime Minister
realized or would have wished, the style has often become the substance,
detracting from and colouring the message.
As Ian Brown wrote in the Globe and Mail, “Mr. Harper is running the most
hands-on, centrally controlled federal government in living memory, a government
so Harper-centric and so micro-managed by the Prime Minister's Office it feels
literally patriarchal.”
1
(See the troubling six part Toronto Star series Secret
Capital, May 2008 www.thestar.com/News/ Canada/ article/429906 )
Examples appear throughout the report Fallen Behind: Canada’s Access to
Information Act in the World Context, and yet many others could be noted:
1) In the election campaign of 2006, Mr. Harper made eight pledges for ATI Act
reform, including granting the Commissioner the power to order records released,
adding a harms test and a general public interest override for all exemptions,
changing the cabinet records exclusion into an exemption, and obliging public
officials to create records of their actions. If passed, these changes would have
mainly raised Canada’s antiquated ATI Act up to the best global FOI legal
standards. Yet none of these measures were passed (except a portion of one, on
entity coverage), and they have been deferred indefinitely for further study.
2) Prime Minister Harper barred reporters from the lobby outside the House of
Commons chamber where they would formerly question ministers, and his office
stopped advertising the time and location of cabinet meetings. The PM sharply
curtailed the number of prime ministerial press conferences, and even when these
occurred, his office demanded reporters submit their names for approval on a list,
before they would be permitted to ask the PM a question. He tries to limit the
numbers and kinds of questions reporters ask, and has adopted the Bush White
House strategy of favouring friendly questioners. There was also an uproar over a
new control-oriented media centre in Ottawa
1
In Harper's regime, Big Daddy knows best, by Ian Brown. Globe and Mail. May 13, 2006 2
3) On Parliament Hill, access to Mr. Harper and his cabinet has been so
restricted that it has become a source of levity among reporters. The Hill Times
carried a story on how the PM goes to great lengths to avoid reporters by taking
the freight elevator and exiting out the back door.
2
4) Instead of decentralizing power as promised, Mr. Harper has funnelled more
and more control straight into the Prime Minister's Office. The PMO now preapproves everything Tory ministers and MPs do in their political lives. They have
been ordered to speak less to the media, and banned from discussing the
government's plans. The PMO vets even MPs' letters to small-town newspapers.
3
Ministers who break these rules are sternly rebuked by the Prime Minister, in
public.
5) The Privy Council Office has such strict control over the Tory government's
messaging that it pre-approves and revises comments attributed to federal
ministers, does “severe” edits on departmental press releases and even vets words
that are to come out of the mouths of university officials, according to documents
obtained by Canwest News Service through an ATIA request.
4
Laurence Martin
wrote that the Harper government prevents the publishing of departmental studies,
especially ones that don't reflect well on its law-and-order philosophy.
5
6) In April 2006, to avoid bad press, Mr. Harper banned the media from filming
the return of the bodies of four Canadian soldiers who died in Afghanistan, despite
the fact the military and several of the families had wished for cameras to be
present. The CBC had discovered through an ATIA request that the PMO had
overruled their wishes. At the funeral of one captain, her father gave a stirring
eulogy saying the young woman died to protect Canada's freedoms, not to restrict
them.
6
2
Government keeps public in the dark, critics warn; Canadians denied information to which they
are entitled, by Richard Brennan. Toronto Star, April 7, 2008
3
'Message discipline' often springs leaks, experts caution PM, by Campbell Clark and Bill Curry.
Globe and Mail, March 18, 2006
4
Ministers' 'quotes' edited by non-elected Privy Council: Documents reveal Harper government's
messaging strictly controlled, including department press releases, by Margaret Munro. The
Vancouver Sun, Sept. 15, 2008
5
Democracy Canadian-style: How do you like it so far? The Globe and Mail. Dec. 17, 2009
6
Military officials resisted casket policy, by Alexander Panetta. The Globe and Mail, July 3, 2006 3
7) Early in 2008, a government-appointed panel on the future of the military
mission in Afghanistan, headed by John Manley, bluntly criticized the Prime
Minister for allowing an "information deficit" to develop. They urged the
government to immediately address the problem by, among other things,
expanding the circle of public servants and ambassadors who can talk about the
mission and by providing “franker and more frequent reporting on events in
Afghanistan” to Canadians.
The Information Commissioner said the Manley panel's criticism on the Afghan
file could be applied elsewhere: “They are saying Afghanistan, but you could
extrapolate that to foreign affairs, to the RCMP, to the Mahar Arar affair ... all the
way down the line.” The criticism by the panel - which included Derek Burney, a
former chief of staff to Tory Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and Paul Tellier, a
former clerk of the Privy Council - was seen as significant because it gives thirdparty validation to complaints by the media, opposition MPs and others about Mr.
Harper's tight lid on information.
7
8) In secret, then Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor signed a new NORAD
continental defence agreement with the Americans – renewing it for an indefinite
term and expanding to include naval operations - and parliament was allowed to
debate it only after the fact. News of the deal came from Washington, and
Canadian public servants were not allowed to talk about it. (Similarly, Trade
Minister David Emerson told Canadians there was no deal with the Americans on
softwood lumber hours after it had actually been finalized.)
9) In 2008, Mr. Harper's aides refused to confirm whether the Prime Minister
talked with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. But Mexican officials released a
page-long news release not only confirming the two leaders spoke but providing
highlights of the topics they discussed.
8
The PMO also has sometimes not
informed the public about visits by foreign statesmen, such as Haiti’s president.
10) The government rejected an ATIA request for the mysterious Middle East
report written by Liberal-turned-Conservative MP Wajid Khan. It did so on the
basis that records in the PMO, and other ministers' offices, are not covered by the
access law.
11) In 2008, Ottawa moved to centralize control over the drafting of Canadian
embassies' reports on the human-rights records of foreign countries. Foreign
Affairs officials have sent new guidelines to embassies that order them to make a
7
Government Openness Scrutinized; Complaints Double; Lack of access to information cited by
Norma Greenaway. National Post. Feb. 4, 2008
8
Brennan. op.cit4
"sharp, clear distinction" between sections of the report to be made public and
those that will be classified. Meanwhile the United States and many other
countries issue public human rights reports with relatively unvarnished
assessments.
9
12) The Conservative government has exempted contracts with Parliament and
Canada's spy agency CSIS from oversight by a new Ombudsman's post that was
central to the 2006 Conservative election campaign. The government slipped the
exemptions in May 2008 in regulations that empower the contract procurement
Ombudsman under the Accountability Act. Opposition MPs were taken by
surprise at the exemptions.
10
13) Even civil servants involved in policy development have complained about
the government's zeal for keeping things close to the vest, according to a study by
the Ottawa-based Public Policy Forum. “The problem in Ottawa ... is that
government has not been effective or forthcoming in communicating their agenda
to officials," the forum said in a report of September 2007. “Efforts to work
around the bureaucracy and to guard information (have) increased, while there
seems to be less willingness to accept public service advice,” the report said.
11
14) In the new Canada, even fiction has not escaped the censor’s eye: in April
2006, an Environment Canada scientist published Hotter Than Hell, a science
fiction novel about global warming set 50 years in the future. He was instantly
prohibited from promoting the book because Mr. Harper's government was quietly
cutting its Kyoto Accord budget by up to 80 per cent that week. “I obviously not
only hope, but expect, that all elements of the bureaucracy will be working with us
to achieve our objectives,” the prime minister explained.
12
15) In April 2008 there was a charge from Auditor-General Sheila Fraser that the
Tories were even trying to silence the officers of Parliament, herself included, who
are supposed to be independent watchdogs. She had learned about a draft proposal
for a new communications strategy - or, as precision might have it, set of gag laws.
9
Critics blast Ottawa plan to control rights reports, by Campbell Clark. The Globe and Mail.
Aug 13, 2008
10
Contracts with CSIS, Parliament exempt from Ombudsman's eye, by Tim Naumetz. Globe and
Mail, May 20, 2008
11
Secret Capital: Parliament Frozen Out. Parliament losing power, author says. By Bruce
Campion and Joanna Smith, Toronto Star, May 29, 2008
12
In Harper's regime, Big Daddy knows best, by Ian Brown. The Globe and Mail, May 13, 2006 5
The Privy Council Office, an arm of the Prime Minister's Office, would apparently
be vetting her releases to the media.
13
16) Mr. Harper has steadfastly refused to disclose the campaign donors for his
2002 Alliance Party leadership run. (However to its credit the Conservative Party
of Canada did release the donor figures for its 2004 leadership selection process.)
His party initially failed to report more than $530,000 in donations for its 2005
convention.
14
17) The lack of transparency has drawn criticism from opposing figures including
Senator Pat Carney, who held several cabinet posts under Tory Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney. In an interview with the CBC upon her retirement from the
senate, she told of calling Mr. Harper to express her concern about his control of
communications over the caucus and cabinet.
15
18) In February 2010, interim Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault
launched a special investigation of how an over-zealous political aide to a minister
got bureaucrats to "unrelease" a document already on its way to Canadian Press
via the ATI process. The report, which revealed inefficiencies in the Public Works
department's real-estate operations, was politically embarrassing. (Months later an
edited version was released.)
19) In a case now in Federal Court, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is
trying to keep secret the names of those who helped forerunner spy agencies keep
an eye on T.C. Douglas, the left-wing Saskatchewan premier (1944-61) now
revered as the father of medicare. CSIS claims that disclosing investigative
methods within the 1,142-page file on Douglas – with some of the records 75
years old - might cause harm to current national security. If that claim is upheld,
Canada will be revealed to be far behind the nations of the former Communist bloc
Eastern Europe, where names of those who informed on their neighbours to the
secret police are now public.
16
20) The federal government refused to release briefing books prepared for the
minister tasked with making the government more accountable. Manitoba MP
13
Info control spinning out of control, by Lawrence Martin. The Globe and Mail, May 5, 2008
14
So much for the new governing morality, by Lawrence Martin. Globe and Mail, May 21, 2007
15
Proudly raise the flag for freedom of information. Editorial. Winnipeg Free Press, April 20,
2008
16
Canadian democracy is oxygen-starved, the Montreal Gazette, 14 February, 2010 6
Steven Fletcher was sworn in as the minister of state for democratic reform in
October 2008. The Winnipeg Free Press made a request for the briefing books
prepared to help Fletcher learn his new portfolio. After a six-month delay, the
newspaper was told its request would not be honoured, because it contained advice
to cabinet. Briefing books are often released through access requests, albeit with
small portions withheld, and this marks the first known occasion of one being
denied completely.
17
21) The Supreme Court of Canada will consider a 10-year-old legal dispute over
whether the public should have access to the private agenda books of the prime
minister. In December 2009, the court granted leave to appeal to the federal
information commissioner, who is seeking to release the daytimers of former
Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien in response to an Access to Information Act
applicant. The outcome could determine how much of the prime minister's life
should be shielded from public view. The Conservative government is continuing
this PMO secrecy tradition of the Liberals.
The Federal Court had ruled in 2008 that the disputed 2,000 pages of records are
under the control of the Prime Minister's Office, and therefore exempt from the
ATIA. The government argues that documents held in ministerial offices do not
fall under the same public scrutiny as those kept in government departments.
18
22) The Harper government has not lived up to its campaign promise to be
transparent when it comes to access to information legislation, says the man who
led the inquiry into the Liberal sponsorship scandal. The result is ATIA
applications that are delayed for up to two years, said retired justice of the
Superior Court of Quebec John Gomery, the keynote speaker at the national
convention of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada being held in
Fredericton. "The current government ran for election in 2006 on a platform
promising integrity, accountability, and transparency," he said. "On the
transparency issue its promises have simply not been fulfilled. I do think the
record of the current government is very bad."
19
23) In June 2009, Information Commissioner Robert Marleau abruptly resigned
for "entirely personal and private" reasons, just over two years into a seven-year
term, raising doubts about the pace and direction of reforms to Canada's access to
17
Accountability minister’s briefing books off limits, The Ottawa Citizen, 13 February, 2010
18
Top court to rule on PM’s private agenda books, Calgary Herald, 18 December, 2009
19
Harper's transparency promise unfulfilled, former judge says, Fredericton Daily Gleaner, 27
August, 2009 7
information laws that he was spearheading. He was disappointed that his efforts to
open up Ottawa found no advocates in the Conservative government. There is "no
one minister, no one parliamentary secretary on the government side that is taking
this on," he said. "It takes political guts. It takes political vision."
20
24) In a dramatic and unprecedented showdown in Ottawa, Privy Council
officials ended months of stonewalling on June 26, 2009, and handed over
documents requested by the federal information commissioner. The disclosure of
files came only after Robert Marleau threatened to have his staff enter the PCO
and seize the paperwork themselves.
At the heart of the dispute was Mr. Marleau's investigation into public complaints
that the Privy Council office was frustrating several ATIA requests. (The PCO
supports the Prime Minister's Office and cabinet.) In particular, he was looking at
150 cases that involve "administrative" issues - complaints that could include the
PCO's demand for photocopying costs and time extensions. To probe the
complaints, his staff needed the files in question. But the Privy Council had
rebuffed the commission's requests for the documents, some dating back many
months.
21
25) In a scathing 156-page special report of February 2009, the Information
Commissioner said "serious flaws" in the way Ottawa delays ATIA requests has
plunged the system into a "crisis" situation. "The poor performance shown by
institutions is symptomatic of a major information management crisis throughout
government," he said. "Access to information has become hostage to this crisis
and is about to become its victim."
Robert Marleau was particularly critical of the Prime Minister's directives that
have created a "stranglehold in the centre on communications" and made Ottawa's
"tendency to withhold information" even worse than it was before. He added there
are currently "no consequences" for those who ignore their obligations under the
access-to-information law because it "has no teeth."
22
26) During Right to Know Week in September 2008, a 393 page report sponsored
by several Canadian newspaper associations was released: Fallen Behind:
20
Ottawa chided for lacking 'guts'; Departing information czar bemoans lack of openness,
Toronto Star, 29 June, 2009
21
PCO blinks, gives documents to information watchdog, Toronto Star, 27 June, 2009
22
A law in name only, The Brandon Sun, 28 February, 2009 8
Canada’s Access to Information Act in the World Context.
http://www3.telus.net/index100/foi
The report confirmed what most commentators had long stated - that Canada’s
1982 ATIA is woefully outdated when compared to the FOI statutes of most other
nations. (This point was vigorously denied by the Justice Minister in 2009.) The
ATIA also fails to conform to most key FOI recommendations from at least ten
global political organizations, such as the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Council
of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and
the United Nations Development Agency (UNDP).
27) In September 2008, Canada’s Information Commissioner upheld a Canadian
Newspaper Association complaint that government practices of tagging requests
for information as “sensitive” create “unfair and unjustifiable delays in the
processing of those requests,” and has urged government departments to stop
holding up information.
23
The finding marks the conclusion of an unprecedented three-year investigation
into 21 government departments triggered by a complaint from the Canadian
Newspaper Association in September, 2005, alleging that “secret rules and
procedures (...) contravene the (Access to Information) Act, (and) result, more
importantly, in unfair and unjustifiable delays in the processing of media requests
for government information to which the public has a right in our democracy.”
28) In May 2008 the Canadian Association of Journalists awarded Prime Minister
Harper its “Code of Silence Award” for 2007. “Harper's white-knuckled death grip
on public information makes this the easiest decision the cabal of judges has ever
rendered,” said CAJ President Mary Agnes Welch. “He's gone beyond merely
gagging cabinet ministers and professional civil servants, stalling access to
information requests and blackballing reporters who ask tough questions. He has
built a pervasive government apparatus whose sole purpose is to strangle the flow
of public information.”
24
29) The Globe and Mail asked why federal agencies were taking so long to
release information under the ATI Act. The paper filed requests with about a
dozen federal agencies seeking an explanation. The answer took two-and-a-half
23
Government Unfairly Slows Access to Information Commissioner Concludes. http://www.cnaacj.ca/en/news/news-releases/government-unfairly-slows-access-information-commissionerconcludes
24
’Psst... Harper Wins CAJ secrecy award. CAJ, May 25, 2008. http://www.eagle.ca/caj/ 9
years to come. E-mails between Treasury and the Privy Council seem to confirm
what information officers in several departments had confided to The Globe -
bottlenecks exist, the result of orders that the Privy Council review information
requests.
25
30) Laurence Martin of the Globe and Mail reported that the Conservatives might
be preventing record access by discouraging record creation. “The bureaucrat was
at the Department of National Defence, where the Afghan detainee affair has
brought controversy, some of it prompted by journalistic prying through access
laws. “I get a call from the Privy Council Office,” he said. “They're setting up a
conference call. The first thing that's said is ‘No note-taking, no recordings,
nothing. We don't want to see anything in writing on this.' … That's the way they
develop policies now and, for my money, it's scary.” There is conflicting
information on how widespread the practice has become.
26
31) Geoffrey Stevens wrote in October 2009 that Harper “presides over what is
arguably the most closed, most secretive federal administration in the last 50
years.” As one example, he wrote, the public safety minister, Peter Van Loan,
wanted Parliament to accept a package of anti-crime measures that, taken together,
would keep more convicts in federal institutions for longer periods of time. Asked
about the impact of the measures on Canada's prison population, Van Loan refused
to disclose the government's estimates, saying the numbers are a cabinet
confidence.
27
32) The Harper Conservatives are continuing the long tradition of keeping secret
the expenses details of members of parliament, which amounted to about $128
million in the 2008-09 fiscal year. The Board of Internal Economy, a secretive and
powerful committee of eight MPs - four each from the government and the
opposition - keeps watch over their colleagues' bills. In March 2009, they agreed
to cover the legal expenses for six lawsuits brought against MPs for defamation,
libel and employment disputes. The board won't say who's being sued, what
prompted the lawsuit or how much the legal defences are costing taxpayers.
28
25
Pattern of delay: Ottawa's information denial. The Globe and Mail, Feb. 3, 2010
26
Is this the answer to access requests? Stop keeping records? The Globe and Mail, Feb. 25,
2010
27
Harper government is marked by hypocrisy. The Guelph Mercury, Oct. 19, 2009
28
Our MPs' spending secrets; Canada's 308 members of Parliament claim almost $128 million a
year in personal and office expenses spending that's risen 42% since 2000. Toronto Star, June 20,
200910
By contrast, the House of Representatives in Washington now plans to post
members' expenses online each quarter, and similar pre-emptive plans are
developing in New Zealand. In Britain, misspending by MPs revealed in 2009
cause a major scandal, with twenty cabinet ministers and backbenchers planning to
resign or retire as a result; Scotland Yard launched a criminal investigation into
some claims.
33) Canada's Foreign Affairs Department has systematically prevented the release
of hundreds of thousands of pages of records on everything from the mission in
Afghanistan to the NATO briefing materials Maxime Bernier left at his girlfriend's
home, Canwest News Service has learned. Two legal experts say the Department
of Foreign Affairs and International Trade violated Canada's Access to Information
law when it decided to systematically charge "preparation fees" before responding
to ATI requests. The Commissioner’s office is investigating complaints over the
policy.
An official with the department, however, said it is applying fees within the
bounds set by the federal Access to Information Act. Although other departments
charge "preparation fees," usually for paper-based records, DFAIT is the only
major federal government department insisting "preparation fees" be paid for
routine computerized records before it will release censored versions of those
records. Someone making a request could pay hundreds of dollars to "prepare" the
records only to receive documents that have been completely blacked out.
29
34) Some of Canada's large commercial airlines required government inspectors
to sign confidentiality agreements to comb over company documents to assess a
controversial new oversight system, Canwest News Service learned. Inspectors
will be conducting in-depth assessments of the safety management systems at
Canada's large airlines. The new safety system - a first in civil aviation - puts more
onus on airlines in managing safety risks in their operations, and is now fully
phased in at Canada's large commercial carriers.
The Transport department declined to name the airlines. The media and labour
unions had complained about proposed amendments to the aeronautics and FOI
laws that would have resulted in a sweeping ban on the release of company reports
of air safety problems. (The legislation died when the 2009 federal election was
called.)
30
29
Foreign affairs violating disclosure laws, say experts. Calgary Herald, Feb. 17, 2009
30
Air safety risks may be withheld; Confidentiality agreements could limit information. Nanaimo
Daily News, Feb. 25, 200911
35) Commissioner Paul Kennedy issued a damning report on the RCMP's conduct
surrounding the tragic Taser death of Polish traveller Robert Dziekanski at
Vancouver airport. Rather than ordering the RCMP to immediately fix the
problems cited by Kennedy, the government allowed the Mounties to try to bury
the report.
As well, the military police complaints commission was given $5 million by the
Harper government to investigate allegations of torture of Afghan detainees. So far,
the commission is spending all the money fighting attempts by the Harper
government to shut down the commission's probe.
31
36) In January 2009, three groups - the Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA),
Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) and BC Freedom of Information and
Privacy Association (FIPA) urged Prime Minister Harper to follow President
Barack Obama’s lead on transparency. On his first day in office, President Obama
issued a directive to all agencies to adopt a presumption in favor of openness for
FOI requestors.
“With billions of taxpayer dollars about to be spent on fiscal stimulus,
transparency on how those dollars are spent is absolutely vital,” said the CNA
release. “Without a viable access to information regime, taxpayers are left in the
dark. Opportunities for waste and mismanagement abound when media and the
public can’t see what the government is doing.” Information Commissioner
Marleau noted that information on the $64-billion stimulus spending plan in
Canada may be of dubious value if it takes the government years to release it.
32
37) In May 2008, the Harper government closed down a database that was an
electronic list of every ATIA request filed over many years to all federal agencies,
claiming it was too costly and little used; The registry, created in 1989 was known
as CAIRS, for Co-ordination of Access to Information Requests System, and it
had allowed ordinary citizens to identify millions of pages of once secret
documents that had become public, and request them.
CAIRS was originally designed as an internal government tool to manage the flow
of often embarrassing information. Particularly sensitive requests from news
media or opposition politicians would often be red-flagged for special handling
that frequently delayed release. But requesters soon began to mine the database to
31
Suddenly, our PM is slapstick Steve. Ottawa Sun, Dec. 13, 2009
32
Without transparency, billions in stimulus could be wasted. Canada NewsWire, Jan. 23, 2009 12
discover obscure documents, fine-tune the phrasing on new requests, and even to
do statistical studies.
38) With rare unanimity, a joint committee of MPs and senators decided in June
2009 to put the outspoken new Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), Kevin Page,
in a political straitjacket. Page made waves by exposing holes in the government's
deficit estimates and casting doubt on Ottawa's financial tally for the war in
Afghanistan.
MPs and senators are peeved that Page publicizes his findings on the web for all to
see, rather than deferring to parliamentary committees that want the right to hold
information back from the public eye. Page was then threatened by the
parliamentarians that his office would be starved of promised funds unless he
agrees to their confidentiality terms.
33
39) A dramatic reduction in Canadian media coverage of climate change science
issues is the result of the Harper government introducing new rules in 2007 to
control interviews by Environment Canada scientists with journalists, says a newly
released federal document. "Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the
number of requests, particularly from high-profile media, who often have sameday deadlines," said the Environment Canada document.
34
"Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been
reduced by over 80%." The analysis reviewed the impact of a new federal
communications policy at Environment Canada, which required senior federal
scientists to seek permission from the government before giving interviews. In
many cases, the policy also required them to get approval from supervisors of
written responses to the questions submitted by journalists before any interview.
40) A series of government e-mails shows an arms-length investigatory body was
told that the Prime Minister's Office wanted it to "hold off" on releasing a safety
report into the high-seas death of Laura Gainey. The e-mails - which the
Opposition argues show inappropriate interference in the independent agency -
surround the release of the report by the Transportation Safety Board into Gainey's
death after she was swept overboard from a tall ship in December 2006.
On Sept. 12, 2009, four days after the Prime Minister called the Oct. 14 election, a
ministerial aide wrote, "My Chief of Staff has just been told by PMO to hold off
on the release of the report until after the election.” Lawyer Michel Drapeau, an
33
Parliamentary cover-up. Toronto Star. June 20, 2009
34
Scientists 'muzzled' by Tories' media policy. By Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service,
March 15, 201013
Ottawa-based legal expert on public access to government information, said the
prime minister's officials shouldn't give orders to an investigatory body.
35
41) Health Canada is telling contractors who handle the release of departmental
documents that they must consult with Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq's office to
ensure that "sensitive records are treated appropriately." In a contract offer, Health
Canada says it intends to hire a consultant to help catch up on its severe backlog of
ATI Act requests. Among the qualifications for the job, the notice says, is the need
to check with top government officials before releasing information to the public
36
42) British scientist Trevor Ogden who oversaw a report on the dangers of the
chrysotile variety of asbestos says he believes Ottawa tried to suppress his work to
protect the Quebec industry that mines the cancer-causing mineral. He headed an
expert panel that Health Canada assembled in late 2007 to study the cancer risk of
chrysotile. The report has been ready since March 2008, but became available only
since April 2009 after ATIA requests from the media.
Health Canada didn’t publish the report on its website, the usual practice for
scientific studies that it funds, but said anyone who asks for a copy will be given
one. Canada and other developed countries use little asbestos, and many nations
ban it because of the health and liability risk. Most of Quebec's production is
exported to the developing world for use as an inexpensive additive to strengthen
cement building products. Ottawa has spent nearly $20-million since 1984
promoting the mineral abroad.
37
43) Prime Minister Harper has gagged the person he appointed to investigate last
summer's killer listeriosis outbreak, forbidding her to speak to the media or the
public, while denying her important tools she needs to get to the bottom of the
problem, say critics. An audit of Canada's meat-inspection system conducted by
the United States Department, conducted only weeks before the listeriosis
outbreak, found that a Maple Leaf Foods meat-processing facility in Laval, Que.,
was not ensuring proper cleaning and sanitation at the plant.
35
Emails show safety board was told to 'hold' report. By Michael Tutton. Telegraph-Journal,
Saint John, N.B., April 4, 2009
36
Health Canada wants access requests vetted by minister; researchers vexed; Critics decry
politicization of information. By Glen McGregor. The Ottawa Citizen, March 6, 2009
37
From Motive questioned in failure to disclose asbestos study. By Martin Mittelstaedt. The
Globe and Mail, April 22, 2009 14
“We owe our friends at the USDA a debt of gratitude. They publish the only
detailed information about safety and sanitation practices at Canadian meat plants
that's available to Canadian consumers,” wrote Bob Kingston is a CFIA inspection
supervisor on leave to act as national president of the Agriculture Union, PSAC.
38
44) As international concern about growing crops for fuel mounted over 2007, the
Harper government tightly managed the message on Canada's controversial $2-
billion biofuel program. Rather than having federal program managers and
researchers speak for themselves, government communication staff have been
compiling answers to media queries and forwarding them to ministers' offices and
the Privy Council Office (PCO) for approval, according to documents released to
Canwest News Service under the ATI Act.
"We need to have both the technical response, but with the [government]
messaging," one senior bureaucrat wrote to in an e-mail to communications staff
regarding one media query on biofuels.
39
45) The federal government was contributing part of the money for an
International Polar Year Arctic research project, announced in July 2007. Through
an ATIA request, Canwest News discovered that, for this project, the Privy Council
Office (PCO) took drafts of remarks prepared by federal government agencies,
then "massaged" them furiously, cutting out information on the research project
(which covers important areas like the changing ocean ecosystem and shrinking
ice cover) and the scientists doing the work.
Instead, the PCO inserted the names of the federal Conservative politicians
making the announcement. Even the remarks to be delivered by the university's
vice-president of research were vetted by government minions. For good measure,
the phrase "Canada's new government" was inserted - a full 18 months after the
government had taken office.
The PCO asked for new "quotes" to be concocted to bring the announcement in
line with what Harper had said earlier on the Arctic. On this event, an editorial in
the Regina Leader Post averred that, “Today, politicians are uncomfortably aware
of being monitored by backroom "spin doctors" working for a government that
either places little faith in senior ministers or is so insecure about its image as to
38
Like telltale crumbs, food safety is being swept under the rug; Only Canadian info available is
from the U.S., thanks to Harper gag order. By Bob Kingston, Edmonton Journal, Feb. 10, 2009
39
Tories keeping tight control of biofuel message, documents shows. By Margaret Munro.
National Post, Sept. 15, 200815
invent quotations and monitor everything said about it. . . . such an obsessive lust
for control of the political message is a sad sign of our times.”
40
46) In 2007 a secret Tory handbook on obstructing and manipulating Commons
committees was leaked to the press. The 200 page handbook, obtained by National
Post columnist Don Martin, reportedly advises chairs on how to promote the
government's agenda, select witnesses friendly to the Conservative party and
coach them to give favourable testimony. It also reportedly instructs them on how
to filibuster and otherwise disrupt committee proceedings and, if all else fails, how
to shut committees down entirely. Some of those stalling tactics have been on
display.
The previous Liberal regime also tried to control the conduct of committees, by
ordering its own backbenchers what to do and say there, said a veteran NDP MP,
but not to the extent of the Tories.
Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale said the manual demonstrates that the
government is in the grip of a prime minister who has "a kind of control fetish" in
which there can't be "one comma or one sentence or one word uttered without his
personal approval." William Johnson, a biographer of Stephen Harper, said that
"the government has subverted Canadian democracy."
41
========================
40
An obsession with total control. Editorial, Leader Post, Regina, Sask., Sept, 16, 2008
41
'Obstruction' handbook leaked. Toronto Star, May 18, 2007
0 comments:
Post a Comment