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Given past consultations, committee reports and private member bills, federal parties can and should agree upon and enact changes before summer break

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, March 31, 2015

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch and the Open Government Coalition it coordinates applauded federal Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault’s report that calls for many changes to strengthen the federal Access to Information Act and open government system.

Given that the public has been consulted for this report, and on changes to the Act and system in 2000, and again in 2009 when a House Committee issued a unanimous report calling for changes, and again in 2011 and in 2013 (twice) through the international Open Government Partnership (OGP) process, and given that the Conservatives promised several key changes in their 2006 election platform and that federal Treasury Board minister Tony Clement has agreed the Act needs to be changed (as did Rob Nicholson in 2009), and given that the NDP and Liberals have both introduced private member bills aimed at changing the Act, Democracy Watch and the Open Government Coalition called on all federal political parties to agree upon and enact changes before the summer break.

“The federal political parties can, and should, implement the important open government changes proposed in the Information Commissioner’s report by June,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch and Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa. “Given that the Access to Information Act and system have been reviewed several times in the past 15 years, and that there is a consensus on key changes that must be made, there is no justifiable reason for any further delay in making the changes.”

“The Information Commissioner’s recommendations will, if implemented, finally change the current federal ‘Guide to Keeping Secrets Act’ into a real access to information act,” said Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch and Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa.

The Information Commissioner’s report recommends the following key changes that Democracy Watch and the Open Government Coalition have been advocating for 15 years:

• the Access to Information Act should cover all federal public, public-function and publicly funded institutions;
• give the Information Commissioner the power to order the disclosure of any record;
• give the Information Commissioner the power to impose fines for violations, and increase the fines for convictions;
• require proactive disclosure of all records that can clearly be disclosed;
• close excessive secrecy loopholes and enact a public interest override that covers all exemptions, the only exception being that disclosure could be refused under a proof-of-harm test if it would harm international relations, the defence of Canada, law enforcement or someone’s personal safety or disclose sensitive personal information;
• extend the Act to cover: information and options provided to Cabinet; ministers’ offices (with exemption for parliamentary functions), and; Parliament and the Ethics Commissioner and Senate Ethics Officer;
• require everyone in these institutions to create a record of decisions and actions;
• require all information to be disclosed in useable formats for free without unjustifiable delay, and;
• require approval from more than the ruling party for the appointment of the Information Commissioner (report recommends two-thirds of MPs approve the appointment).

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: 613-241-5179 – Cell: 416-546-3443

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Democracy Watch’s Open Government Campaign

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The following letter-to-the-editor by Democracy Watch Co-founder Duff Conacher was published on March 19, 2015 in the Globe and Mail

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The article about the extension of Governor General David Johnston’s term to 2017 ignores some basic good governance principles (Harper extends Governor-General David Johnston’s term until 2017 – Mar 17).  No matter how qualified, nice or dedicated Mr. Johnston is, he was given his job by Prime Minister Harper who can take away his job at any time for any reason, and as a result he lacks independence.

The Governor General’s legal duties include the very important decisions about: which party or parties form the government after an election; whether a vote of non-confidence in the government has happened; whether a change in government or an election will happen, and; when Parliament can be shut down.  In other words, he is one of Canada’s key democracy watchdogs.

According to international best-practice standards, the Prime Minister should not select any government watchdogs alone.  Approval by opposition party leaders should be required or all leaders should together appoint a multi-member committee that conducts a public, merit-based search, and then submits a shortlist from which the Prime Minister (or all leaders together) must choose the watchdog.  Also, watchdogs should serve a fixed term during which they can only be fired for cause.

Also, all watchdogs should enforce clear, written rules.  The rules the Governor General currently enforces are unwritten, and therefore very unclear.

Recent surveys show that a majority of Canadians want the Governor General and provincial lieutenant governors chosen in a more democratic way, with clear, written rules to enforce (as the governors general in Australia, New Zealand, and the Queen in Britain, have).  Until these changes are made, we will unfortunately very likely see the Governor General continue to do whatever the Prime Minister wants no matter how questionable — as happened in 2008 and in other situations in the past several decades.

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Democracy Watch’s Democratic Head Campaign

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