Ontario’s provincial members of parliament are heading back to Queen’s Park today, as the legislature sits for the first time since December. The governing Progressive Conservatives recessed the legislature on Dec. 11 for an unusually long winter break, which the opposition has called undemocratic. The spring session should be a busy one, with the budget […]

As media organizations go, NewsGuard cuts a low public profile as it follows its mission of issuing credibility ratings about news outlets. The Trump administration knows about it, though, and the company has joined a lengthening list of journalism organizations to face the White House’s wrath. A dispute between President Donald Trump’s regulators and the […]

Environmentalists and New Brunswick’s Green Party are calling for more transparency after it took nearly two days for the provincial government to issue a warning about a chemical spill that left drivers south of Fredericton commuting through toxins.  “From stem to stern, their spill response and public transparency and reporting need to be overhauled,” Green […]

Alberta’s Opposition is calling for action and more transparency in the wake of a prolonged mouse infestation at one of Edmonton’s biggest long-term care homes. Covenant Health, along with Assisted Living Minister Jason Nixon, declined requests from The Canadian Press to provide the most recent health inspection report for the Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre, […]

$245 for 1,799 pages: 1,622 completely redacted—words covered by large blocks of black to hide them from the public. The Pointer is trying to uncover the details behind a $4-billion deal, the largest of its kind in the municipality’s history, between the City of Brampton and a foreign company that not many in Ontario have […]

Caledon resident Tony Sevelka’s days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and now years since he started digging into the details of a proposed blasting mega-quarry steps away from his home.  His quest led him to file a freedom of information request this summer, seeking access to all public objections to the contentious project.  […]

At the Paris AI Action Summit in February, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau and other world leaders watched as U.S. Vice President JD Vance took the stage to rail against AI regulation. Vance’s speech — delivered with his face projected on a large screen between the intricately-carved pillars lining the stage at the historic Grand Palais […]

Travel documents, including receipts and itineraries, obtained by The Pointer under freedom of information requests have exposed a troubling pattern at the City of Brampton under Mayor Patrick Brown. Expensive flights and hotels, questionable spending on food, drinks and transportation, all in the name of so-called economic development, have become the norm in Brampton.  The […]

CBC/Radio-Canada has filed an application in Federal Court to fight an order directing it to disclose subscriber numbers for its Gem streaming service. The information commissioner ordered CBC to make available the number of paid subscribers to Gem following an access-to-information request for the data. CBC/Radio-Canada president Marie-Philippe Bouchard told The Canadian Press the subscriber […]

The RCMP has agreed to release new information about the disappearance of two children from their home in rural Nova Scotia, including accounts from witnesses who said they heard a vehicle going back and forth nearby, a few hours before the kids were reported missing. Malehya Brooks-Murray reported her children, six-year-old Lilly and four-year-old Jack […]

The president of the group representing local governments in British Columbia says she welcomes proposed changes that would make it easier for First Nations and municipalities to meet behind closed doors. Cori Ramsay, president of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, said her group and First Nations requested the changes, saying they give nations “the […]

The Nova Scotia government has tabled legislation that could weaken a key section of the province’s transparency law. If adopted, the bill would remove what a provincial watchdog described as a crucial portion of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The bill would also extend deadlines for the release of government records […]