Looks like the federal government is about to get even more secretive under the conservatives.
Welcome to the information blackout in Canada
Welcome to the information blackout in Canada
In my last post, which looked at Tony Clement's not-so-open "Open Government" initiatives, I mentioned that the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) had recently received leaked documents detailing a new federal government plan to make government websites a whole lot less informative.
Since being tipped off to the plan, FIPA has attempted to obtain details under the Access to Information Act. Unfortunately, we keep running into roadblocks thrown up by the Treasury Board, the domain of -- you guessed it -- open government minister Tony Clement. First, Clement's department demanded thousands of dollars in fees to process the request. Now they're insisting on hundreds of days of delays to allow for unspecified "consultations."
Frustrating as this process has been, our leaked documents show it's no surprise that the government is dragging things out.