Hello,
I am writing today to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and all Ontario political party leaders specifically to call for budget Bill 97 to be amended before it is enacted to remove subsections 28(1) and 29(2) from the Bill as those sections increase the secrecy of Cabinet ministers communications with lobbyists retroactively to 1988 which is not only a recipe for corruption, waste of the public’s money and other abuses of power, subsection 29(2) is also likely unconstitutional as it effectively overturns a binding court order that required disclosure of phone numbers and texts related to government decisions to and from Premier Ford’s cellphone (which he was using to conduct government business).
I am also writing today to call on all governments to strengthen access-to-information laws and systems in the following key areas in order to stop excessive secrecy by politicians, staff, and government officials:
- The freedom of information/access to information law should be changed to remove the current restrictions on who may make an access request so that everyone, regardless of citizenship or residence, can make a request;
- Any type of record created by any entity that receives significant funding from or is connected to the government (including all politicians’ offices), or was created by the government and fulfills public interest functions, should be automatically covered by access to information laws and systems (as in the United Kingdom);
- All exemptions under access to information law should be discretionary, and limited by a proof of harm test and a public interest override (as in B.C. and Alberta);
- The frequently abused Cabinet advice and Cabinet confidence secrecy exemptions should be changed by restricting the application of the exemptions to only the part of any record that actually contains advice or recommendations (in other words, all facts, statistics, policy options and proposals and communications with anyone outside of the government trying to influence the decision (whether or not they are a registered lobbyist) should be obtainable through a freedom of information/access to information request);
- The access to information law and system should require every entity covered (as in the United Kingdom, U.S., Australia and New Zealand): to create detailed records for all decisions and actions and factual and policy research; to routinely disclose records that are required to be disclosed online in a searchable database (including the daily work schedule and interactions for all politicians (including Senators at the federal level); to assign responsibility to individuals for the creation and maintenance of each record, and; to maintain each record so that it remains easily accessible;
- All public institutions should be required to respond to access requests “as soon as possible”. An extension of the 30-day initial time limit for responding should require the permission of the Information Commissioner and should be limited to a maximum of an additional 60 days;
- All exceptions which protect public interests should be subject to sunset clauses of maximum 20 years (and less than that for Cabinet records);
- The access to information law and system should allow anyone who does factual or policy research for the government to speak to the media and publicly about the topic, findings and conclusions of their research without being required to seek approval first from anyone (including their superior, the Privy Council, the Prime Minister, a Cabinet minister, or any ministerial staff person);
- Severe penalties should be created for not creating records, for not maintaining records properly, and for unjustifiable delays in responses to requests;
- The Information Commissioner should be given explicit powers under access to information: to order the release of a record (as in the United Kingdom, Ontario, B.C. and Quebec); to penalize violators of the law with high fines, jail terms, loss of any severance payment, and partial clawback of any pension payments, and; to require systemic changes in government departments to improve compliance (as in the United Kingdom);
- The freedom of information/access to information law should be changed to require the Information Commissioner to issue a public ruling published on a searchable website for every complaint they receive, and every situation they review, and the public must have a clear right in the law to appeal any decision in court;
- Establish a fully independent, non-partisan appointments commission (with members, appointed by non-governmental organizations like the Canadian Judicial Council, serving fixed terms of office) to conduct a merit-based search for nominees for Information Commissioner (and all other officers of the legislature) and to present a short list to the Cabinet that the Cabinet has to choose from after at least consulting with all federal party leaders (even better, require that a majority of party leaders approve of the Cabinet’s choice);
- The Information Commissioner (and all officers of the legislature) must not be eligible for a renewal of their fixed term in office (to ensure that the commissioner does not act as a lapdog to try to get re-appointed by Cabinet for another term);
- Funding to the access to information system and enforcement should be increased to solve backlog problems instead of increasing administrative barriers such as limiting requests in any way, and fees for access should be lower overall and standardized for every entity covered by the access to information law and system; and
- The legislature must be required to review the access to information open government law every 5 years to ensure that problem areas are corrected.
The nation-wide Open Government Coalition supports these key changes.
Along with the nation-wide Government Ethics Coalition, made up of 31 organizations with a total membership of more than three million Canadians, I also support key changes to require full disclosure of the financial interests of every politician, political staff, Cabinet appointee and any government official with decision-making power, and to close loopholes that allow for secret lobbying.
Similar changes are needed across Canada to provincial, territorial and municipal laws.
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.
In June 2023, a House Committee report called for several key changes to strengthen the federal open government law, and many recent reports have also called for stronger provincial, territorial and municipal open government laws across Canada.