Harper declared this week basically that freedom of information is essential to democracy. Too bad he doesn't provide it. Our interim information commissioner, Suzanne Legault, gave Harper bad grades on his freedom of information and even a red alert. Here is a little piece of what Stephen Harper's chief of staff had to say on the issue.
“Canadians have a right to expect that questions are answered,” Giorno said.
Really? We should be able to know about torture in Afghanistan and why Guergis was kicked out of the Conservative caucus? Well, it seems to me that we don't really know much about these issues. So, even Harper says that we should know about these issues, just not much. No wonder some of his departments failed. Even a "fail" category was created especially for Foreign Affairs. It denied 60% of requests for information. What a transparent government we have! Just as Harper says.
The Privy Council Office, which serves as the bureaucrats to the Prime Minister, received a “D” grade or “below average,” as did seven other departments, including Health Canada, Revenue Canada, Natural Resources and the Canadian Food Inspection Service. Five others received failing grades and a special “fail” category was created for Foreign Affairs for its 60-per-cent rate of outright refusal of requests for information.
Read about it at the
Toronto Star.
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