In Print

One last thing…

By Kevin Steel ⋅ September 25, 2006 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

One of Klein’s last acts as premier is sealing up his government’s records. What’s he worried about?

After Adscam, you’d think Canadians would clamour for more transparency from their politicians–especially in Liberal-hostile Alberta.

Actually, it’s the opposite. At the end of their spring session, the province’s Progressive Conservative government passed an amendment to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP). Now, records of audits by the chief internal auditor are sealed for 15 years and ministerial briefing notes that go into briefing binders will remain confidential for five.

The Opposition says the move, and how it was handled, raises suspicions about what the PCs may be trying to hide. “They knew there was going to be trouble with this bill,” says NDP MLA David Eggen. “They kept sticking it at the very end of the evening when we had night sessions. So it would appear at one o’clock in the morning or 11:30 at night.” On the third reading, the government invoked closure, ending debate and forcing it through the house. It was the second time they’d done so, having invoked closure when the bill was before committee.

The bill’s sponsor, Red Deer MLA Mary Anne Jablonski, didn’t return calls asking why the bill–or closure–was necessary, nor did George VanderBurg, government services minister. But with Premier Ralph Klein retiring later this year, his close circle may want to ensure that nothing problematic surfaces once a new leader arrives, Eggen speculates. “This is just a way to keep it really cool for a few years after they leave.”

When questioned by constituents, some Tories have argued that ministerial binders had previously been completely off-limits, indefinitely, claims Liberal MLA Mo Elsalhy, critic for government services. That would make a five-year moratorium an improvement. But Elsalhy says that’s “baloney,” noting that binders had always been accessible. “That is how we found out about the ministers going all over the place on government planes being paid for by taxpayers,” he says. Now, with no definition on what files can be classified as briefing notes, “they can now stuff anything they want into a ministerial briefing binder and call it a ministerial briefing note and seal it for five years.”

Not even the privacy commissioner can get around the new rules, says Marylin Mun, Alberta’s FOIP director. “If you apply for access to those [binder] records, they [the government] can say access rights set out under FOIP do not apply to those documents,” says Mun.

After 35 years in power, the secrecy smacks of Tory overconfidence, says Duff Conacher, co-ordinator of Democracy Watch, a pro-accountability group in Ottawa. “It’s showing that same kind of arrogance and entitlement, the ‘we own the government and you, the public, don’t own the government,’ that the Chrétien Liberals showed in their later years,” he says.

That may explain comments from leadership hopeful Lyle Oberg, who was temporarily booted from caucus in March for questioning Klein’s leadership. After his ouster, Oberg was quoted as warning the party: “I know where all the skeletons are.” With the new secrecy rules, Albertans now know, too: if there are any skeletons, they’re probably in those embargoed audits and briefing notes. And if they are, no one will likely find them until at least 2011.

[This article appeared in the April 4, 2006 issue of the Western Standard.]