Blog index

Dec. 18, 2022 - Impenetrable

Bureaucrats at Treasury Board spent 2.5 years reviewing the Access to Information Act. As expected, the result is in inside job.

Dec. 16, 2022 - A suspicious cost analysis

A new analysis from Treasury Board about the high cost of operating the access-to-information system appears to be a precursor to a fee hike.

Dec. 15, 2022 - Reporters bailing on FOI?

New statistics from Treasury Board confirm that journalists are abandoning access-to-info.

Dec. 11, 2022 - Shell game

Disturbing new evidence that the Information Commissioner’s order-making power is a sham.

Nov. 16, 2022 - A stained record

A new memoir by U.S. media critic Margaret Sulllivan is a useful catalogue of journalism’s sins in the 21st century.

Nov. 15, 2022 - Hamster wheel

The information commissioner often complains about a lack of money, but then fails to spend the cash she does have. Here’s why.

Oct. 29, 2022 - Spies, lies and the convoy

The espionage world is full of liars. The Access to Information Act could help to expose them.

Oct. 27, 2022 - Delay: the deadliest form of denial

Three examples of absurd delays at the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada.

Oct. 12, 2022 - Here be monsters

We’ve entered the era of the monster request, thanks to an ill-advised federal policy on fees.

Oct. 9, 2022 - Whoever pays the piper …

The information commissioner of Canada must go cap-in-hand each year asking for money from the very government she tries to hold to account.

Sept. 8, 2022 - A pioneer of freedom of information

A remembrance of Mike Dagg, a happy warrior in the trenches of FOI.

Aug. 10, 2022 - An FOI milestone

For the first time, a federal department has gone to court to oppose an order from the information commissioner.

July 20, 2022 - Access delayed

An FOI story about a Canadian military contract that should have been told five years ago.

July 12, 2022 - Ink-stained wretches abroad

Deborah Cohen’s brilliant Last Call at the Hotel Imperial is an immersive account of American foreign correspondents working in the 1920s and 1930s.

June 29, 2022 - Cabinet’s black hole

A new book by law professor Yan Campagnolo makes a strong case for ending the near-absolute secrecy of cabinet confidences.

June 20, 2022 - FOI by the numbers

A deeper dive into the 2021-22 annual report of the Information Commissioner of Canada - and some new numbers on alleged criminal acts.

June 12, 2022 - Inside job

The largest-ever review of the Access to Information Act is 20 years old today. Its central flaw is the same as Treasury Board’s current review.

June 2, 2022 - To review or not to review

About a false promise that Parliamentarians would review the 2019 changes to the Access to Information Act.

May 24, 2022 - Those pesky mandate letters

The Ontario government has gone to the Supreme Court of Canada to protect its mandate letters. What’s at stake?

May 14, 2022 - Decline of FOI?

There are signs that media use of FOI may be in decline. Why might that be and what can be done about it?

May 11, 2022 - The enigma of Robert Reguly

A review of a new book by Eric Reguly about his famous father Robert.

May 6, 2022 - Bogeyman

A long blog on the mis-use of fees in FOI, based on remarks prepared for a British Columbia GovInfo Day event sponsored by Simon Fraser University and others.

May 1, 2022 - A cure for amnesia

For four decades, federal FOI has suffered from amnesia. Now a cure is at hand.

April 28, 2022 - Deflated

A 2022 Budget item earmarking big money for Privy Council Office’s ATIP unit is less than meets the eye.

April 8, 2022 - FOI’s free lunch

An examination of how the 2016 elimination of user fees for federal Access to Information Act requests has exacerbated delays.

March 30, 2022 – History: An FOI mystery

     How poor retention practices for FOI documents are undermining Canada’s history.

March 24, 2022 – FOI’s black holes

     How agencies that spend public money escape scrutiny from freedom-of-information laws.

 March 17, 2022 – A gentle giant of FOI

     A personal remembrance of the late Darce Fardy, Nova Scotia’s first information commissioner.

 March 7, 2022 – Sweden: An FOI Eden?

     Sweden is often held up as a model for freedom of information, but their system has flaws. One of its great successes, though, is timeliness.

 March 3, 2022 – Carping about complaints

     The complaint process under federal access to information is too slow and cumbersome.

 Feb. 27, 2022 – Sanitized

     So-called “proactive disclosure” of government records is a bit of a fraud.

 Feb. 14, 2022 – Petard

     My personal experience of being the target of an access-to-information request at the CBC.

 Feb. 13, 2022 – Truth or consequences

     How the absence of effective penalties under the Access to Information Act undermines the system’s effectiveness.

 Feb. 12, 2022 – The cost of transparency

     The costs of running the access-to-information system are dwarfed by what governments spend on self-promotion.

 Feb. 10, 2022 – Cracked

     How governments keep shutting down opportunities for the public to see some cabinet records.

 Feb. 9, 2022 – Sherman, set the WayBack Machine …

     A reminder that the 20-year protection for cabinet and other documents need not stop journalists from telling great stories.

 Feb. 7, 2022 – The best-laid plans

     The annual Departmental Plans released federally are a great source of ideas for access-to-information requests.

Feb. 6, 2022 – Plaudits for audits

     The internal audits conducted by federal departments are an often-overlooked source for news stories.

 Feb. 4, 2022 – Fun with scrums

     The good and the bad with live news scrums.

 Feb. 2, 2022 – Order in the court!

      A closer look at the new order-making power conferred on the federal information commissioner. It’s not all that it seems.

 Feb. 1, 2022 – Upside-down tyranny

     Why the inverted pyramid style of news writing has endured.

 Jan. 31, 2022 – Down for the count

     Journalists should resist daily word-quota demands from editors. Stop typing if you have nothing worthwhile to say.

 Jan. 30, 2022 – Carl Bernstein on rewind

     A review of Bernstein’s sepia-toned memoir of his early working days at a newspaper.

 Jan. 27, 2022 – An editor’s lament

     My gripes about editing difficult journalists.

 Jan. 24, 2022 – In praise of journalists

     On the susceptibility of journalists to awards and other praise.

 Jan. 22, 2022 – Filling the time waiting for ATIP packages

     Some tips on open-source government material that you can scan for stories while waiting for responses to ATIA requests.

 Jan. 21, 2022 – Dubious FOI statistics

     The federal government uses inadequate methods to gather statistics and report on the access-to-information system each year.

 Jan. 20, 2022 – reporter memoirs

      My favourite five journalist-written books of the last few years.

 Jan. 18, 2022 – Upton Sinclair

      Remembering Upton Sinclair’s blistering attack on American journalism in his powerful The Brass Check, published in 1919.

 Jan. 17, 2022 – Public Accounts of Canada

     The annual Public Accounts of Canada are an underused resource for news stories. Some examples of stories that drew on these dry but rich volumes.

 Jan. 16, 2022 – email

      Email, alas, has come to replace person-to-person interviews for news stories.

 Jan. 15, 2022 – Mandate letters

      The publication of federal mandate letters for ministers has been over-hyped. Many are just public-relations vehicles.

 Jan. 14, 2022 – That’s a good question

A personal rant about interview subjects who say “That’s a good question” to journalists.