More Openness And Accountability!

Now, the Privy Council Office, the central government department headed by the Prime Minister, has responded to an access-to-information request by saying that it has no such report under its "control." A PCO official, Susan Fitzmorris, said that's because records in the Prime Minister's Office - which now has 92 employees - are not covered by the access law. The government's assertion that ministers' offices are not covered by the access law is not new: In 1999, Jean Chrétien's government began refusing access requests by saying that the minister's office is not part of the department they head. That interpretation was contested in court by then-information commissioner John Reid, and sharply criticized by the Conservatives and their predecessor parties, the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives. Mr. Harper promised in the last election campaign to scrap it. The Conservative campaign platform promised that the party's first task would be to pass an "accountability act" that would "implement" Mr. Reid's recommendations for reform. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071029.waccess29/BNStory/National/home

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