BC moves to take the ‘free’ out of Freedom of Information – iPolitics.ca

British Columbias ruling NDP marked their one-year anniversary as a majority government this month by taking the opportunity to remind the public of their achievements since freeing themselves from the need to rely on the support of the B.C. Greens to run the show, as the New Democrats did when they were still a minority.

Working together, weve made a real positive difference in peoples lives, but there is still much more to do, Premier John Horgan said via a press release last week that boasted some of the NDPs recent accomplishments, including: providing financial assistance to constituents during the pandemic, lowering drivers insurance rates, and bringing in an emergency rent freeze, which will expire at the end of this year.

But one of the things apparently on Horgans to-do list is undermining democracy and his owns partys legacy.

New legislation tabled by the government earlier this month, Bill 22, would overhaul the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) by introducing fees for freedom of information (FOI) requests. The bill would also overrule the independent privacy commissioner, exempt the contents of politicians smartphones and other electronic devices from the public record, make it easier to ignore certain requests, and allow for B.C. residents personal information to be stored on servers outside the province.

The proposed fee would be modest at a suggested $25, according to Citizens Services Minister Lisa Beare. B.C. is currently one of seven provinces or territories that provide FOI services for free; Ontario charges a decidedly moremodest $5 per application while Alberta and Nunavut each charge $25.

The out-of-the-blue bill is all the more bizarre given that an all-party legislature committee was struck five months ago to study the current law and make recommendations and has barely started its work yet.

FIPPA was brought in by former NDP premier Mike Harcourts government, with strong support from the B.C. Liberals, who were the Opposition at the time. It was considered the most advanced FOI legislation in Canada when it took effect in 1993.

The act which covers provincial ministries, crown corporations, agencies, commissions and boards was designed to give the people the ability to access data rarely found in the prepared statements of politicians or corporate PR specialists. As the name suggests, it also safeguards individual privacy rights by prohibiting the unauthorized collection, use or disclosure of personal information by public bodies.

The proposed new fees wouldnt apply to those seeking their own personal information, meaning the hoi polloi could still file FOI requests without being out-of-pocket if it pertains to their own records.

Backlash to Bill 22 has been fast and furious from academics, cash-strapped media outlets, non-profit organizations,and opposition parties, which led to a strange moment at a press conference last Thursday where a defensive Horgan brandished his phone in an attempt to convince skeptics there was nothing nefarious about a government making it harder for its citizens to access information.

I dont know if you want to zoom in on that, thats my telephone screen, Horgan told reporters. Youll see from that that I play Scrabble; I have Spotify; I check my heart rate; I know what the weathers going to be like in Prince Rupert; and I have email; I have text messages; and I have a telephone; and a host of other things that I dont even know what they are.

The province claims it typically deals with more than 10,000 FOI requests per year, the vast majority are made by the Liberals on dirt-seeking fishing expeditions, which is exactly how how the NDP operated while on the other side of the aisle.

There are probably plenty of people whod be interested in whats on the premiers phone, but CTV reporter Jon Woodward quickly discovered the only request for a screenshot from an elected officials phone was back in 2017 regarding former Nelson-Creston NDP MLA Michelle Mungalls travel expenses. The fact that it took four years to processsums up everything that is wrong with the current system, and its hard to imagine how putting up new financial obstacles will improve anything.

We are living in a time when people are seeking more answers, and greater accountability, from public bodies and their governments, amplifying the significant role that freedom of information plays in allowing people to get information about what their governments are doing, and the decisions that affect them, wrote Michael McEvoy, the provinces Information and Privacy Commissioner, in aletter to Beare. To add another barrier of access at a time when transparency is critical is deeply troubling.

Along with the Liberals, one of the biggest users of the system is independent journalist Bob Mackin, who has a reputation for filing more FOIs before breakfast than most reporters do in an entire year. (Full disclosure: Ive worked in newsrooms where he was a regular contributor, including the now-defunctVancouver Courierand24 Hours.)

Mackin was responsible for a whopping total of 397 provincial FOI requests in the past year, 69 more than the rest of B.C. journalists put together, and theres a perception in media circles hes being made a scapegoat for FOI overreach with some of his more frivolous requests, such as wanting to know how much the bill was at a White Spot restaurant in Coquitlam for Horgans tte--ttewith Justin Trudeau on the campaign trail last summer.

But Mackin also regularly scoresserious scoops with his relentless FOI filings, including, for example, the recent discovery that were not allowed to know who nominated Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provinces provincial health officer in charge of overseeing the provinces COVID-19 response, to receive to Order of British Columbia. While its perhaps unsurprising she is among the 16 recipients to receive the award out of 257 nominations, its downright baffling as to why the government thought it was necessary to redact the name of the person who nominated her back in April 2020, when the plague was still in its early throes.

Dr. Henry has received plenty of criticism for her handling of the pandemic, including this past spring when it was revealed the government had been withholding information regarding transmission at individual community levels and its worth noting this was revealed via an anonymous whistleblower rather than what would likely have been a censored (or ignored) FOI request.

The days of reporters being able to simply call up a government official for a straight answer are long gone, with even simple questions or interview requests now being routed through a byzantine network of uncommunicative communication specialists. Routine FOI requests typically take months or even years to come through and are often heavily and needlessly censored, but if the provincial government wants to cut down on the number of time-consuming requests it receives, its hardly a secret the obvious solution would be to make as much data and information as publicly available as possible.

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BC moves to take the 'free' out of Freedom of Information - iPolitics.ca