In my e-mail today, from a journalist, Tim Bousquet, Hfx Inquirer: Something quite weird, and quite telling, happened to me yesterday. Michael Karanicolas of the Centre for Law and Democracy had very kindly invited me to meet with representatives from the Treasury Board, who were in town as part of their duties to “coordinate” the federal government’s “open government Action Plan.” I wasn’t able to make the morning session, but from later discussion I gather that the three Treasury Board employees gave a dog and pony show explaining how the federal government was really trying, honest, to open up government, improve the Access to Information process, and usher in a new era of informed democracy. The afternoon session was billed as an “open discussion” with the Treasury Board employees where participants could “talk about problems with the current open government processes and how they can be fixed.” When I arrived, seven or eight people were sitting around a table at City Hall, and they made room for me to join in. Then, we went around the table introducing ourselves. Michael introduced himself and explained the role of the Centre for Law and Democracy. I was next, and said simply that I’m a reporter in Halifax. Then the others introduced themselves, some people doing academic work on open government, a couple of people involved in non-profits, like that. But when we got around to a woman—and I’m sorry, I didn’t catch her name—who worked at the Treasury Board, she asked who I worked for and left the room to make a phone call. When she came back, she said that with a journalist in the room, the Treasury Board employees were not authorized to speak without a government media professional in the room. That’s right—a session on open government could not proceed without a media minder present because the discussion might go off the government’s talking points. Toby Mendel, president of the Centre for Law and Democracy, who was also present, said the incident is illustrative of Canada’s failure of open government, and that Canada is far behind the rest of the world when it comes to open government processes.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 15:10:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015