In October, a University of Toronto history professor tweeted part of the result of an Access to Information request. The information, of course, was littered with the usual redacted sections, pretty much a universal experience in such endeavours.
What was peculiar in this case was what the Privy Council Office believed had to be hidden from public view. It was sections of a 1959 speech in the House of Commons by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker about the Avro Arrow.– yet it also crystallizes Canada’s widespread and continuing failings in access to information. Governments in Canada claim to believe in openness when in fact the opposite is the case.
These problems aren’t new, but appear to be worsening. All Canadians pay the cost. A fundamental tenet of democratic governance is to be as open and transparent as possible. In Canada, only lip service is paid to this ideal. The PCO-Hansard dust-up is an extreme example but, in practice, and across the political spectrum, a culture in much of government has honed the instinct to withhold rather than to reveal.
The United States provides a ready comparison with Canada. Two stories of the mechanics of journalism in 2021 illustrate the stark divide.an eruption of Mount Baker, south of B.C.’s Fraser Valley in Washington State, and risks it could pose to the Canadian side. The reporter asked for comment from a relevant expert with the B.C. government, but was rejected by PR staff. Instead, several points of already public facts were sent by e-mail.
Seeking information is not just about journalism. While one can actually laugh at the PCO redacting a prime minister’s speech in the Commons, academics who work to better illuminate our history are being stymied by a system that could more accurately be called Restricting Access to Information. “This secrecy about historical events is damaging to Canadians,”In B.C.
Can't have transparency when governments all hide and our elected act like they are above people that vote them in. Starts at municipal and goes straight up to prov and federal.
If you don’t talk politics with your fellow citizen and allow them space to have an opinion different than yours, then people don’t talk politics, and then we don’t talk about what common ground we have; i.e. how politicians on both sides are corrupt and prone to croneyism.
Great article on closing down oversight of our Governments. This time it is the BC NDP. Secrecy and crafted truths are the norm today. Talking points that are not allowed to be challenged. We have lost our democratic right to know what is done and spent by our elected officials.
Sureeeee.
Media is falling short..check yourself
Ontario government fell short when Ford was elected. They seem to believe they aren’t accountable to anyone but their base.
JustinTrudeau and the Globe and Mail must be experience transparency in a different way!
Canada is a big fraud
CallMeTexx Hot tip
You mean doug ford hiding his mandate letters.
No shit
Transparency is a social construct and democratic governance is racist.
We have Justin, who has repeatedly demonstrated transparency is something he desperately tries to avoid, there can’t be anyone surprised by this.
Canada has no sovereignty and is therefore not a real country. It follows that there is no relevant democracy in Canada and therefore there is no need for transparency. It is a shopping mall with a flag.
This is our PM
There using Covid to pass every draconian measures for the greater of the good . But people should care . Governments very fast to take away . Are hard earn rights . But very very slow in giving us them back
We can say goodbye to transparency if this video is authentic. If it is, we have tyranny on our hands. Time to WakeUp Canada
wonder why? the same 2 parties running provinces and the country.
Canada is a resource extraction company first with a 'democracy' without actual effects placed on top to preserve imperialism.
Canada is not a democracy. That stopped fully with foreign dominance of elections starting in 2015.
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