The Canadian Press
Jim Bronskill
OTTAWA–A Liberal-dominated committee is sending the government’s Access to Information bill back to the House of Commons with few changes, despite the deep concerns of transparency advocates and opposition MPs.
Committee members rejected most of the amendments put forward yesterday, including some from Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith.
The Access to Information Act allows applicants who pay $5 to ask for federal documents, but it has been widely denounced as slow and antiquated.
The Trudeau government said the bill, introduced last June, represents the first real modernization of the law since it took effect in 1983.
It would give the information commissioner new authority to order the release of records, as well as entrench the practice of routinely-disclosing documents such as briefing notes and expense reports.
But many who testified at the committee, including information commissioner Suzanne Legault, dismissed the legislation as a step backward.
The bill is fatally flawed and will make Canadian democracy weaker, said committee member and NDP MP Nathan Cullen.
“The Liberals chose to ignore just about every piece of testimony that we were given,” Cullen said after the meeting.
“It just mocks the whole process and their commitment to evidence-based decision-making,” he charged.
“The results of this for Canadians who are trying to hold government accountable will be felt for years; that’s the tragedy of what just happened.”
The Conservatives considered the bill “beyond redemption” and therefore did not suggest amendments.
Erskine-Smith said he “would have liked to have seen some more amendments adopted,” but still considers the legislation a step forward.
“I do think that we should have gone further than where we ended up,” he conceded.
“Do I personally think it’s a step in the right direction? Yes.”
In a special report to Parliament in September, Legault said the bill does not give her office genuine order-making powers.
Although the commissioner would have new authority to issue orders about the release of records, and additional time taken to answer requests, federal agencies could challenge those orders in wide-ranging Federal Court hearings, which often go on for years.
The committee voted down amendments Monday that would have strengthened her orders.
Critics say the bill backpedals on a Liberal campaign promise to extend the access law to the offices of the prime minister, cabinet members, senators, MPs, and administrative institutions that support Parliament and the courts.
