“Transparency does not guarantee accountability, but it makes it more possible,” Justice John Gomery wrote in his final report, released on February 1. FIPA applauds his call to make government more transparent and we urge Parliament to enact his recommendations swiftly in the upcoming legislative session.
The last major progress in transparency was made in 1983 when the Access to Information Act was passed. Parliament must act intelligently, but swiftly, before “politics as usual” re-asserts its habitual patterns and this rare opportunity is lost.
Chapter 10 (Transparency and Better Management) of the latest Gomery report begins:
“A clear message from the first phase of the Inquiry, reinforced throughout the preceding chapters, is that a lack of transparency in the system made it possible for some individuals to subvert management processes and bypass lines of accountability…
This chapter explores the means of achieving greater transparency in several areas and suggests an explicit link between increased transparency and the achievement of better management and accountability throughout the public sector.” (Chapter 10 and the full report)
The Gomery Commission was created to probe and learn the lessons of the federal sponsorship scandal. In the final report, Justice Gomery urges the government to:
· Strengthen the 1983 Access to Information Act (ATI Act).
· Reduce some of the exceptions in the ATI Act that allow the government to withhold information from the public. Specifically, making them discretionary, subject to an ‘injury test’, and subject to a ‘public interest override’ as in most provincial freedom of information acts.
· Add all federal institutions that are not presently covered by the ATI Act to the Act’s coverage, including all crown corporations and government-created foundations
· Enact much stronger whistleblower protection.
· Require public employees to create records that document government decision-making, and
· Require the disclosure of the details of contracts the government enters into with third parties
Many of these measures were also pledged by Prime Minister designate Stephen Harper during the recent election campaign. FIPA urges Harper to fulfill his promise to pass his Accountability Act as his first deed in parliament.
The best model for reform of the ATI Act was issued by federal Information Commissioner John Reid last year. Justice Gomery expresses support for Reid’s draft bill, which has also been endorsed by the federal Conservatives and FIPA.
The Conservatives endorse Reid’s points and add others, such as giving the Commissioner the order-making power enjoyed by most provincial Information Commissioners, and extending ATI coverage to the independent Officers of Parliament.
As Canada emerges from the two-year malaise created by the sponsorship scandal, it is clear that swift and tough reforms are needed to transform the secretive culture of Ottawa and prevent the occurrence of similar scandals. Delay can only weaken our momentum toward this historic reform.
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