In 1994, then-Justice Minister Allan Rock pledged to strengthen the federal access-to-government-information law.  Unfortunately, for the past 11 years the Liberals have successfully delayed all attempts to update the Access to Information Act, and Prime Minister Paul Martin is trying another delay tactic right now.

The federal NDP introduced a bill to strengthen the Act last year, but then current-Justice Minister Irwin Cotler agreed to introduce a government bill on the issue.  As a result, and unfortunately, the NDP withdrew its bill -- and then Cotler and Prime Minister Martin began their delay initiative.

First, Cotler only released a discussion paper, instead of a bill.  Then Martin appointed a retired Supreme Court judge to examine whether the offices of the federal Access-to-Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner should be merged.

Unfortunately, Martin's designed-to-distract distraction is working very well.  While the media and concerned commentators have focused on the Prime Ministerial-driven, largely irrelevant issue of merging the access and privacy offices, the much more important discussion of needed reforms to ensure the access law is loophole-free and effectively enforced has been pushed to the background.

Access to information reform seems like an abstract, complex issue that should not be a top concern to the public.  However, like most government processes, the somewhat obscure process of access-to-information has daily effects on millions of Canadians, helping or harming them depending on whether or not the access system works.

How?  Whether you are concerned about issues in the areas of health care, education, environmental protection, social welfare, energy, transportation, agriculture, the arts, or even sports, Canadian governments are playing a role in determining the rules, the funding, and the operation of organizations dealing with these issues.  Governments that operate in secret have been shown throughout history to deal ineffectively with issues, mainly because secrecy is a recipe for inefficiency, irresponsibility and corruption.

Access to information systems, if effective, shine a light on government operations and the brighter that light, the more effective it is as a disinfectant preventing wrongdoing, and ensuring wrongdoers are held accountable.

Across Canada, access-to-government-information systems have flaws, and every government is ignoring the flaws or delaying attempts to correct them.  Why?  Simply because politicians and bureaucrats, like most humans, don't like to operate with the public watching over their shoulder.  However, given the powers of government officials to tax and spend public money and impose laws on all Canadians, governments must be required to operate more openly than any other organization in society.  Otherwise, the public and the public interest are constantly threatened with serious harms.

So while it is not surprising, it is disappointing to see Prime Minister Martin and the federal Cabinet once again delay open government reforms.  It is also disappointing to see the media and others get distracted by the Prime Minister's delay tactic.

Whether there is one commissioner or not, the public will not have the easy access to government information it has a clear, democratic right to have unless the following key changes (proposed in July 2001 by the Open Government Canada coalition --see OGC's position paper at:  http://www.dwatch.ca/camp/Open_Government_Report.pdf) are made:

1. any type of record created by any entity that receives significant funding from or is connected to the federal government, or was created by the federal government and fulfills public interest functions, should be automatically covered by the Access to Information Act (as in the United Kingdom);
2. all exemptions under the ATI Act should be discretionary, and limited by a proof of harm test and a public interest override (as in B.C. and Alberta);
3. the ATI Act should require every entity covered by the Act (as in the United Kingdom, U.S., Australia and New Zealand): to create detailed records for all decisions and actions; to routinely disclose records that are required to be disclosed; to assign responsibility to individuals for the creation and maintenance of each record, and; to maintain each record so that it remains easily accessible;
4. severe penalties should be created for not creating records, for not maintaining records properly, and for unjustifiable delays in responses to requests;
5. the Information Commissioner should be given explicit powers under the ATI Act: to order the release of a record (as in the United Kingdom, Ontario, B.C. and Quebec); to penalize violators of the law, and; to require systemic changes in government departments to improve compliance (as in the United Kingdom), and;
6. 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 the ATI Act.

No more time or space should be devoted by the media to the Liberals' distraction tactics.  Instead, every media outlet in Canada should continually and regularly devote time and space to exposing the details of the fatal flaws in the federal access law (and to exposing similar flaws which are present in many of the provincial laws as well), and to educating the public about the necessity and importance of the strengthening reforms set out above.