CBC.ca: Canada: Wednesday, November
16, 2016.
Saint John
Mayor Don Darling is writing a letter to Premier Brian Gallant asking that
application fees be reinstalled for Right to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act requests, citing the costs.
"This is
not about closing down any openness or transparency," Darling said after
the council meeting on Monday night, "but there is a significant cost
involved in some of these RTIs."
Kevin Lacey,
the Atlantic Canada director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, doesn't buy
the argument that the RTI system costs governments too much.
"I see
right to information as an investment in saving money," said Lacey.
"Having
open right-to-information laws actually saves the taxpayers money because
individual taxpayers follow the expenditures of government, waste can be
exposed and policies can be changed."
The act,
which was updated in 2010, allows citizens to apply for public information not
released by taxpayer-funded organizations. Private information of individuals
within organizations is protected, however.
No fee
amount suggested
In 2011, New
Brunswick became the only jurisdiction in Canada to remove all fees associated
with RTI requests.
In Nova
Scotia, it costs $5 to submit an application for general records, while in the
Northwest Territories the basic fee is $25.
No suggested
fee amount was mentioned.
The motion,
submitted by Coun. David Merrithew, was accompanied by a review signed by
Government Services Minister Ed Doherty also recommending the reinstallation of
fees.
For
Merrithew, it's a necessity.
"There's
a huge cost," he said during the meeting.
Requests
too broad
Darling said
these requests can be expensive because of how broad they can be.
"'Give
me every correspondence from A to Z from 2012 to 2016,'" he said,
imitating what a request might say.
The mayor
said multiple people in the clerk's office manage these requests. Sometimes
requests take weeks and even months to satisfy.
The City of
Saint John has received 66 Right to Information requests in 2016.
According to
the motion, 32 per cent of those requests came from the media, 36 per cent from
the public and 21 per cent from businesses.
Kevin Lacey,
of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said removing the RTI request fees was
'an investment in saving money.' (CBC)
The remaining
11 per cent came from law firms, organizations and academia.
When asked if
he was concerned about the potential loss of transparency these fees could
bring, the mayor said he wasn't.
"It's a
fine balance," he said.
"We
think it's prudent of us in managing our costs and resources to have a bit of a
fee attached."
Lacey
contends the move is designed with only one purpose in mind.
"They do
not want the public asking [questions], that's what this is all about. It's politicians,
who are tired of the public and groups being able to expose some of the
mismanagement and waste that happens in the government," he said.
Gallant
government seemingly onboard
In late
September, the provincial government voiced its desire to change the law
surrounding these requests.
Also in late
September, NB Liquor threatened to sue the Right to Information commissioner
and questioned the value of the legislation, calling it a "financial
burden" for public bodies to answer RTI requests.
Last year,
Health Minister Victor Boudreau suggested the money used to answer right to
information requests could be better spent on front-line services.
Darling said
there's no guarantee the province will move forward with the request.
The motion
passed unanimously.
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