“It’s not unreasonable to suspect that the requirement for a formal application is a stalling tactic.   What is said about justice can be applied  here: Information delayed is information denied.   Experience has shown that it could take more than a year for a formal application for access to run its course through the application and appeal process, if there is a request for review by the independent review office. I don’t believe the drafters of this Act, or the members of the legislature who unanimously approved it, foresaw that the process would be so long that citizens would choose not to exercise their right of access to government records. In the words of the Act, exceptions to disclosing information should be “limited.” The purpose of the Act is clear. “… to ensure that public bodies (read governments and other public bodies) are fully accountable to the public.”  Those aren’t my words.  That’s what our legislature wanted.”

-Right to Know NS president Darce Fardy wrote a letter which Tim Bousquet used in an editorial on the IBM deal.

HRM took a step forward Tuesday with council’s unanimous support of an Open Data initiative.  It constitutes an advancement but should not be considered an end.  Those who subscribe to a more encompassing vision of openness (e.g. Open Government) are better able to capitalize on the capacity of citizens to improve their cities.

If our next municipal leadership can expand on Open Data to provide a more grand vision and establish binding milestones, Halifax can be a global leader in the Open Government movement.  Calling upon the inspiration of our forefathers who gave us the first representative, then responsible, government in British North America would serve us well.

Click here to understand more about what this grand vision may look like.

The Right to Know Coalition of Nova Scotia, The Coast, and the Metro Student Community Coalition invite you to join us on October 2nd from 7-9 pm in the McInnes Room of the Dalhousie Student Union Building to hear our mayoralty candidates’ views on openness, accountability, secrecy and citizen engagement. Join our panel of journalists as they probe candidates on their vision for the next HRM administration.

RSVP to the event on Facebook.

Follow us on Twitter for more information.

Details:
October 2nd
7-9 pm
McInnes Room at Dalhousie Student Union 

“The last year has been an eventful year for access to information in Canada, and not all the news is good. Newfoundland and Labrador tightened its grip on information with new amendments that will make records harder to obtain. In Ottawa, the federal information commissioner announced she would review the performance of the much-maligned federal Access to Information Act. Ontario’s commissioner, meanwhile, increased access to compliance and appeals statistics, while New Brunswick finally brought its municipalities under access legislation.

This year’s Freedom of Information audit puts a special focus on municipalities. The number of requests per city was increased to 10, allowinga close examination of the performance of individual municipal governments. For the first time, grades are provided to cities, rather than a province-wide municipal grade as in past audits. This will allow citizens of larger centres a better measure of how their local governments performed in comparison to others…”

Read the audit.